8 Must See & Do Things for Brisbane, Australia

I love Brisbane.  I lived there for 5 months last year and now that I've been gone for a year, I miss it even more than I did just months after leaving!  I was recently asked what are the MUST see things to do in Brisbane, and while I could probably give a massive list, I realize many people are doing other things while they are visiting, so if you can just accomplish these 8 things- I feel you will have an amazing overview of why I am so in love with Brisbane, Australia.



#1 West End Market on Saturday mornings- for the best of local Australian culture, food, and handmade goodies: http://www.daviesparkmarket.com.au



#2 South Bank Lifestyle Markets on Friday & Saturday night- even if you don't buy anything, the atmosphere is awesome at South Bank in the evening, and even more awesome on Friday night when the market is set up and the streets feel friendly and welcoming
https://collectivemarkets.com.au



#3 Live Spark at Brisbane Powerhouse on Sundays- this is a great way to sample local music for free, grab a bite and a drink at the bar, or just take in the view of the river with some great music in the background. The best way to get to the PowerHouse from most of Brisbane is via CityCat ferry
https://brisbanepowerhouse.org/whats-on/



#4 Ride the Full CityCat Route- Speaking of CityCat, this is just part of the public transportation system, but it's such an awesome way to get around the city with the wind blowing in your hair and the river views of the city. Take it from end to end and explore whatever you can from each stop. It runs frequently so you usually don't have to wait that long. I don't recommend getting a car in Brisbane, especially if you're not used to left-side driving- just take public transport everywhere - it's easy, clean, and ridiculously more convenient than having a car and trying to find parking everywhere.
https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-transport/public-transport/citycat-speedycat-ferry-services/citycatspeedycat-ferry-terminal-locations



#5 State Library of Queensland & QAGOMA- my two favorite places to spend hours upon hours during weekdays in Brisbane. There are ALWAYS free events at the Library, great wifi access and a lovely cafe. QOMA exhibits are AMAZING - I have been blown away every single time- try to go for an event night if you can- much more bang for your buck!
https://www.slq.qld.gov.au
https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au

#6 Schonell Theatre at Queensland University- this is a bit of a hidden gem in the city as it offers great independent films for a super fabulous price and there's usually a quality pizza + movie special available for ridiculously cheap as well. Australia gets many really interesting films from all around the globe - but they are often far behind on the mainstream movies in the states. I like the more interesting stuff better:
http://www.schonell.com/what-s-on



#7 Cloudland & Fortitude Valley- I can take or leave many of the bars in Fortitude Valley, however Cloudland is an explosion of imagination, texture, and design!! You must not leave Brisbane without stepping foot inside Cloudland during daylight hours. You can usually grab a bite for lunch during the week after 12pm or on the weekend during the day if you want to avoid the nightlife crowd and heavy cover charge.
https://www.cloudland.tv

#8 Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary- This is perhaps the most touristy thing on my list, but it would be a shame to visit Australia and never once cuddle a Koala, see a Wombat waddle, a Tasmanian Devil run in circles, or be face to face with a Kangaroo or Wallaby. You can do all of those things at this sanctuary, and it's a nice ferry ride along the river to get there.
https://koala.net

I could go on and on.... but if you just accomplish these 8 things, you will see why I am head over heels about Brisbane!!!

Brisbane Career Recruiter Headshot - Jana Cameron

Jana Cameron is a recruiter and career trainer in Brisbane who is passionate about helping immigrants find meaningful work when they come to Australia. She has been able to build the life of her dreams in this city and is passionate about helping others do the same. I'm honored that she choose me to help her create personal images to represent her online presence. She'll be launching a new website soon for online training- and I'm excited to see everything come together for her!! To learn more about Jana, visit her website: http://janacameron.com

Travel the World - AirBnB Photography

You've been reading my blog and have now decided that you want to live in Brisbane, Australia. I know, it's pretty awesome, right?! Or maybe you've decided you just want to travel the world more. Luckily, AirBnB has made this easier than ever. The company started in San Fransisco but now has rooms ALL over the world. It crowd sources spare rooms in people's homes and makes it easy for visitors or vacationers to find and rent a room for a weekend, a week, or a whole month! We used it to find two great places to stay for a week at a time here in Brisbane, and one of them ended up letting us do a long-term stay for the five months we're here in an area where we were having a VERY difficult time finding a place to rent! It was a win-win for us and the property owner because she got great flat-mates to share dinners with and we got a place to stay in the middle of everything!



We're also using AirBnB for our summer stay in London when it's close to the Olympic Games and hotels have raised rates and overbooked. We've also reserved a room in Iceland, where we don't really know anyone, but want to stay for a couple nights. After Christmas we'll be renting an entire home in Puerto Rico so we can spend a whole week together with the rest of my family in a different place.



Sharing a room in someone's home is so much more adventurous and cozy than a sterile hotel room. Granted, if you're a control freak and want starched white bleached sheets and a spotless bathroom, you really should just stay in a hotel. However, if what you want is a look inside another culture, the best insider tips on great cafes and restaurants, or even someone you might be able to take an adventure with, than you'll LOVE AirBnB.com!



I think this little video really sums up the experiences I've had while traveling and staying in AirBnB homes...

*The following giveaway ended on:
March 17, 2012
Better luck next time!*

BLOG READER GIVEAWAY!!

1. Think of a place you've always wanted to go.
2. Search AirBnB.com for a place you'd love to stay in.
3. Post a comment here on my blog about why you want to go there and include a link to the AirBnB.com place you'd stay in.
4. One awesome blog reader will win $20 to be used as "get out and have fun money"!
5. Don't forget to include your email in the comment if you want to win the giveaway!
6. Deadline is Friday, March 16th

Full disclosure: If you actually book a room, Alex and I get a little extra AirBnB credit for our travels when you use this AirBnB referral link. However, you do not need to create an account in order to search the service and enter the giveaway, but I think you'll find vacation room shopping to be very addicting!

What's it like to live in Australia?

Here are a few subtle or not-so-subtle differences about the Aussie lifestyle to an American visitor (all images are iPhone photos from my AnneRuthmann Instagram feed):


For the most part, Aussies just want to have a great time regardless of where they are. Based on a few different conversations, I get the sense that Americans are perceived to be quite uptight compared to Australians. Rules and regulations are more like guidelines and suggestions for courteous practices in Australia, rather than expectations of appropriate behavior in the United States. "No worries" is probably the most common Australian phrase used on a day-to-day basis.



Wine or beer are pretty much an expected accompaniment to social evening meals. I've tried to get away with not having a glass of something, and I often get met with a look of disappointment or confusion unless I tell people I can't for medical reasons. So, my liver is aging a little more quickly while I'm here just so I can keep up with the Aussie lifestyle.


Words are often abbreviated to two syllables and end in "y". So, Stradebroke Island becomes "Straddy", Breakfast is "Brekky", and Barbecue is "Barby". Sometimes word are just completely different, like "Pram" is a baby carriage and "Chooks" are chickens. The following photo is the local Salvation Army resale shop.... notice the name. ;-)



Greetings can sometimes throw me off- like when someone asks, "How you going?" How am I going? By train? Oh... "I'm going good." I'm sure hearing "How you doing?" could be just as strange to Aussies.
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Public Transportation is for everyone. In Brisbane, it's simply phenomenal, and I can get pretty much anywhere in the city on one pass that goes between ferry, train, or bus. It's so easy, and with gas being so expensive, it's ridiculous not to take advantage of the dedicated busway that cuts through the city just like a subway would.


It's expensive. Similar to living in Manhattan or downtown Boston, "The Rent is Too Damn High!" We got an amazing deal to rent a room in a home that we share with one other person, and we pay $300/week in rent for our room. When you compare it to downtown Boston or New York, it's not really any worse, however, when you factor in that the overall cost of eating out is quite a bit higher because servers are paid a living wage of around $30/hr, it gets pricey real quick. Ironicaly, it's a buyers market on home sales, but it's a sellers market on rentals in Brisbane, which makes it more expensive for visitors. (If you don't already know about "The Rent is Too Damn High Party" check out this remix of Jimmy McMillan's platform talk.)


Sweet chili sauce, beets, and pineapples may make a regular appearance on burgers, and the mangos and apricots are the sweetest versions of the fruits I've had anywhere. Also, rather than getting a salty "ketchup" you're more likely to pay extra for a packet of "tomato sauce" which has a sweeter flavor. A vending machine Coke or Pepsi may set you back $4 or more, but there may be a free water bottle refilling station nearby to encourage drinking healthy. Buying fresh veggies and fruits like Kiwi is pretty inexpensive comparatively, and in the following case, even comes with a "Spife" for eating on the go!


Lamb... not beef or kangaroo... is the true Australian meat. Try asking for a lamb sausage at Outback Steakhouse and see if they have it on the menu- you'll probably be disappointed. You must watch the commercial below in order to grasp the country's attachment to lamb, as well as the very silly sense of humor Aussies have.


It's easy to find work. There aren't a ton of entrepreneurs, but there are lots of people who have a few different part time jobs. Because the minimum wage established for Australia basically protects people from ever feeling like they're poor, the only reason to really work for yourself is to create your own freedom of schedule. I think that the laid back Aussie "no worries" mentality doesn't create the need for independent entrepreneurship, so lots of businesses are owned by foreigners or immigrants who find it very easy to get started and make a life here with just a small bit of hard work. Overall, Aussies believe that work is meant to support the life you want, rather than creating a life that supports the work you want. I dig it.


College is not an expectation. Because there often isn't that much difference in salary between someone who has gone to college for 4 years and a "trady" or day laborer, many people don't see the point of college if they can simply get a skilled job that pays well. This may be changing as the immigrant population increases and takes over entry-level jobs, but for now, college is only something people think about when they want a promotion or certification to practice something that requires a degree.


There are a lot of environmentally friendly practices in place such as recycling and garbage bins side by side in all public areas, very few chemically modified ingredients in foods - less preservatives means less transportation and better freshness, half flush toilets for those small flush occasions, homes built to maximize air flow and low energy use, great walkability and bikability every where in the city as well as city cycles you can rent, tax credits for things like solar and energy saving installations, free public stainless steel electric grills in the parks to encourage group dining outdoors, and free public pools for cooling off away from home on hot days. As a side note, the image above is called a Hills Hoist, and is considered an iconic symbol of Australian innovation. Fact: on sunny days in Brisbane, most laundry can dry in 45minutes on the line.


Aside from a different power cord connection, many outlets have switches at the outlet to turn the power on or off for each outlet. I made the mistake several times of forgetting to turn on the outlet switch after plugging in my phone or computer only to realize it after wondering why my battery was on low instead of fully charged. Internet speeds are also fairly abysmal. I'm used to being able to upload gigabytes of images in a short period of time in the states, but in Australia it might take days for the same amount of uploading!


Last but not least, Australians love animals- and in several cases, have even built monuments for them. Americans love pets, but have no problems with harming road kill or shooting at birds, raccoons, or killing moles that destroy their precious yard. Australians, however, have an affection for almost all of the animals in the kingdom, and go to great lengths to protect them, sometimes to the detriment of neighborhood gardens- as is the case with wild turkey running loose around the city. However, for the cutest, most iconic animals that remind you of Australia, you have to go to nature preserves or zoos where their lives have been protected, because most native Australian animals are quite lazy and not all that great at doing more than eating leaves, laying around, and sleeping like this wombat at a state protected nature park...


Of course you'll find differences and these generalizations don't apply 100% of the time, but it's a fairly good overview of the subtle cultural differences between living in the United States and Australia. Personally, I think it's a bit of a utopia here and if it weren't for having so many family members back in the states, I wouldn't mind living here indefinitely. ;-)

If you're ready to visit Australia, you'll need to start by applying for the appropriate VISA online:
https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing

  Have any questions about what it's like to live in Australia? Let me know in the comments below!

Welcome to 2012- A Year of Adventure!

It's 5am in Brisbane, QLD Australia on Monday January 2, 2012. For my family, it's still New Year's Day in the states. I'm sitting on the porch, watching the sun light up the horizon and listening to the morning chatter of birds. I took a 30 second video so you could join me in this beautiful waking of the new year in a new place... just turn up your volume to hear the birds and then press play *twice*...

In a few more days I'll share more about this journey... how I got here, what I'm doing here, etc. If you have any questions you'd like me to answer, just leave a comment here on the blog or catch me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. I'm documenting this journey quite thoroughly for our family who want to know all of the little details, and since it's just easier to use Instagram or Path streaming into Facebook, everyone else gets to join me along this adventure as well. If you're interested in following along, connect with me on Twitter or Instagram and say hello- it's going to be quite an adventure!!