Australia Zoo in our backyard

Cascade Gardens. The beautiful park with little cascading waterfalls, palm trees of all sorts and picnic areas right behind our house. Remember I told you about it? This afternoon, after quite a while I had a few hours off from work, and so had Ann. And because she had seen a few interesting creatures hanging upside down on the trees, we decided to go and take a closer look and bring our cameras (especially my new PowerShot) with us.

So what did we see or who did we meet? The cute little batty creatures hanging on the trees are called flying-foxes and there's a whole colony of them living (or should I say hanging) in our lovely neighbourhood. They are said to be highly intelligent and social animals, not aggressive by nature. They have a range of sounds which they use to communicate with each other. And believe me, they do communicate. Almost 24 hours a day. Their vocalisation is similar to that of humans and reaches a peak during mating season allowing very little sleep for the flying-foxes during the day.. and very little sleep for us during the night.

Known as social animals, they also drink and drive. Little fiends. During very long dry spells they drink by flying low over water and dipping their bellies. They then lick the water off their fur. Campsites are usually located on or near water and it’s thought they use rivers and even roads for navigation. That’s why they love our cascades and the Little Tallebudgera Creek running along the GC HWY through the park! By day the colony hangs together, grooming, sleeping or arguing with their neighbours. I told you they were intelligent.. just like humans. When it is hot, they cool down by fanning their body with their wings. Every evening around dusk, flying-foxes head off to search for food and return to the campsite anytime during the night, but usually not before dawn. Party animals!

The next fellow that we usually meet on our way home through the park and who was present also today is the eastern water dragon, or physignathus lesueurii, an impressive lizard that grows up to 20 cm with a strong long tail that grows 2.5 times the body length. Quick calculation says they therefore grow up to one meter in length (including the tail). Scary. Our neighbours are a bit smaller though, but sneaky. Hardly distinguished from the park background, they usually surprise you when you least expect. And when you express your feelings about the ‘nice’ surprise at a bit louder voice, they quickly turn their back and escape. So I haven’t had a chance to make good friends with them yet. And I doubt I ever will.

The same goes for the ibises, the long-legged wading birds that are little friendly and even less social. They all have long down curved bills, and usually feed as a group, probing mud for food items, mostly crustaceans.. Which explains why they always look so filthy. Little pigs.

And last but not least comes the local fisherman-park guard. As it was the first time I met him, I don’t know much about him yet. But remind me and I will tell you more some other time :) Oh! The big fat frogs, 10x bigger in size than the ones back home, whose funeral I saw the other day (the fisherman-park guard finally took it away after the poor thing had been lying by our pathway for days), must have been all hiding. Probably didn't wanna be photographed today.

Ixus vs PowerShot

Convinced my Canon Digital Ixus i7 Zoom wasn’t the best model to satisfy my photographic interest in Aussie wonders, including some of the interesting creatures that need to be zoomed to be shot, I took a trip back to Brisbane to change it with another Canon. Besides why do they call it Ixus i7 Zoom if the zoom is only 2.4x? And as I’d rather keep my distance from some of the cute lizards or other Aussie inhabitants, but would still like to have a shot or two of them in my collection, I decided to get myself a PowerShot A710 IS with a 6x optical zoom and image stabilizer. So I went back to the Harvey Norman store in Indooropilly Shopping Center and found the same guy Adam that sold me the camera the other time. I was lucky because Adam likes to surprise his customers, or maybe only girls, with great discounts. Remember the $90 I saved the other time? I saved $99 this time :) Definitely a great bargain, plus I’m happy with my new camera. It’s not golden, it’s not that fancy, but it takes great pictures.. I'm telling you, it's inside that matters, not outside! :) I owe him a coffee.

Changes in Paradise

Goodbye Paul
Goodbye Paavo and Tiit
Goodbye Meelis

Welcome Martin
Welcome Kelli and Alvin
Welcome back Krista

What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - It's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.

~ Jack Kerouac

No ends, no beginnings..

You're searching...
For things that don't exist;

I mean beginnings.
Ends and beginnings -

there are no such things.
There are only middles.

~ Robert Frost, Mountain Interval

"In the Home Stretch"

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.

A week in Paradise

Early Tuesday afternoon, January 9. Monte Carlo Ave, Surfers Paradise. I’m saying goodbye to Paul and Trixie. A heartbreaking goodbye. Paul is flying to Singapore this weekend and back home in Germany from there.

Late Tuesday afternoon, January 9. Gold Coast HWY, Broadbeach. I’m walking to Pacific Fair to do some shopping with Ann. There’s a space on my shelf in the fridge. Emptiness. We receive a message from Paavo and Tiit: ‘We are about to pass by your house and Monte Carlo Ave.. for the last time.’ They are on the bus to Nerang Station to catch a train to Brisbane and fly up to Cairns from there. We see the bus driving by and wave goodbye. Another heartbreaking goodbye.

Early Wednesday morning, January 10. Loneliness in Surfers Paradise. Time to do something about it. A few messages have been left on my voice mail while I was in Byron. Work. I had sent heaps of resumes, and finally they are getting back to me. I’m thinking how little I wanna work after the holidays but how much I wanna fight this loneliness. We have an interview with Stacey in Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise, and another quick one with Claire in Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise. We leave enthusiastic and hope at least one of them will get back to us. Especially Crowne which is right across the street.

Late Thursday morning, January 11. Lazy morning by the pool. My phone rings. ‘Hello. It’s Claire from Crowne Plaza. How’s your morning, girls?’ It’s great to hear from you, Claire. It’s going very well. ‘It’s gonna get even better, girls. I have good news for you. You’ve got a job!’ That’s awesome! That’s really great. ‘Please drop by tomorrow to sign your contract.’ Will do! That’s great. C ya tomorrow!

Friday afternoon, January 12. My phone rings again. ‘Hello. It’s Mario from the Italian restaurant. Are you still looking for a job?’ Hey, Mario. I’ve just got one but might take up another one depending on the hours. ‘Good. Do you wanna work tonight?’ Yeah, why not! :) The restaurant is called Barnie’s in Paradise. It comes from the name Mario and Sam Barnaba, the two owners, originally Italian but both brought up in Australia. It’s half way between Surfers and Broadbeach, right next to Q1, the world’s highest residential building with 80 floors. It’s a small Italian family restaurant with an easy going atmosphere, nothing too fancy, rather authentic and traditional. The small international team consists of the two owners that are also the only two chefs, plus Sue from Melbourne, Pragya from Nepal, Andzrej from Poland, and now me. And I guess the dishwasher is French :) Easy and easy going, I get along well with them from the start. Looks like I’ve found my Little Italy Down Under.

Saturday morning, January 13. We wake up early and jump into our black & whites. Pinnacle needs us at the Gold Coast Turf Club. What a surprise. But we have a day off, so why not go and see what’s happening. Situated just five minutes from Surfers Paradise Beach (that’s what they say on their website), the Gold Coast Turf Club has been in operation for over fifty years. However, they haven’t managed to create an appropriate bus link to get there or away. So we get off on the corner of Ashmore Road and walk towards the direction where we think the Turf Club should be, but soon realise the entrance is all the way down on the other side, which is a good 20-minute walk around the racecourse. And it’s so hot already 9 am. For those that still wonder what the Turf Club is, it’s a famous horse racing track on the Gold Coast that has developed the racecourse and its facilities into a large venue offering some exciting entertainment, e.g. Saturdays’ special Carnival Days. For a whirlwind nineteen days in January 2007 the Gold Coast hosts a program of racing, parties, dinners and yearling sales culminating in the Conrad Jupiters Magic Millions Raceday on Saturday 13 January worth $ 3.5 million in prize money. And that’s where we are heading to. Although our prize is just the free entrance and a 6-hour working day. No magic millions this time. But what do our eyes see? Large banquet rooms (Winners Lounge, Trackside) with heaps of tables covered in white and loaded with fine porcelain and glass wear. Nothing new. Heaps of alcohol. Nothing new. Buffet lunch. Nothing new. But not only. Hundreds of horses. Hundreds of spectators. Hundreds of different dresses, hundreds of hats. Red hats, yellow hats, green hats, hats with feathers, hats without feathers, feathers without hats, hats with flowers, hats with ribbons, round hats, square hats. Hats there and hats here. Wait. Where are the horses? :) The day is long. The day is hot. And the day is still young. It continues at Toscani’s and Barnie’s.

Sunday, January 14. Another night in Paradise, Barnie’s in Paradise.

On the road with Paul and Trixie

Byron Bay vol 2

The morning after my birthday when the house had been given a bit of a wiping, I packed my bags again for a little road trip down to Byron Bay and Lennox Heads. It was Paul’s last week in Australia and he was up on the coast again as Byron’s one of his favorite spots Down Under. And not only his.. Heaps of people travel to the most easterly town of Australian mainland to spend their vacation in Byron and the surrounding area, which makes it a little more packed than we wish it was.

Anyways.. It’s early Saturday afternoon and off we go on the road with Paul and Trixie. Paul has only met her half an hour ago in Surfers Paradise and is already very keen on her, whereas I obviously find her less attractive. I’m hoping she won’t interfere with us too much. Do you think it’s gonna be nice spending time with Trixie around? Anyways, jokes aside, Trixie is our rented camper van. And who did you think she was!?! :) Her best years probably date back to the 90s, but never mind, Trixie is cool and fits perfectly to the Byronese environment.

So we are cruising down to Byron.. windows wide open (Trixie has no air-con), cool music playing from Trixie’s pimped power hit radio (her newest add-on).. And after a quick break you know where (Maccas of course!), we reach our destination – Byron Bay’s Main Beach, with Belongil on the left and the Pass on the right, take a seat and think what’s next. We decide to get something for dinner from Woolies and a cool white Aussie wine from the next door bottle shop, and see where Trixie brings us for the night. She heads a few kms south to Suffolk Park and finds a quiet spot 50 m off the 7-km Tallow Beach. We don’t mind. It’s a warm starry night with a full moon.. Absolutely perfect for a little late night picnic with Brie cheese, strawberries and wine on the beach. Yummmie :) Moments of a lifetime. Something that you can’t describe in words, something you have to experience yourself. But I can tell you a little bit, just about enough to tickle your envy ;) Imagine lying down on a soft sandy beach, with a blanket to cover you, biting cheese and strawberries and sipping a cool wine, looking at the stars above you and the lighthouse at the far end of Cape Byron shedding light upon the whole beach. Imagine you fall asleep and you wake up half an hour later. A few thin clouds have hidden the stars above you, but cleared the sky above the ocean where a full moon now shines down on the water and makes an amazing combination with the lighthouse far beyond. Imagine listening to the waves gently splashing the shore. Imagine having someone special right next to you. Imagine there’s nothing else you could wish for. Or could you?

Morning in Byron Bay, 07.01.2007

Sunday morning. We wake up in Trixie (or with Trixie :)). It’s getting unbearably hot as the sun has replaced the moon and is now shining in a blue, blue sky. So we jump into our togs and walk 50 m down to the beach.. The same 50 m, the same beach that is now a patrolled swim area with the famous yellow-red flags. A new day, a complete new look. We have a brekky in Byron and spend the rest of the day in the Cozy Corner, the lighthouse-side of Tallow Beach. Hot, hot, hot. I’m dreaming a refreshing shower. Hmm. Thanks, YHA hostel (a) The night is quiet. We have a beer at the Beach Hotel, the enormous beachfront beer garden on the corner of Jonson and Bay Streets where all of Byron is happening around you, and spend another night in Suffolk Park.

Lennox Heads, 08.01.2007

Lazy Pig :)

Monday. I’m reading Lonely Planet. ‘If you’ve spent a couple of days in Byron Bay, Lennox Heads, 11 km north of Ballina and 18 km south of Byron, feels like the quietest, calmest place on earth. Even without a trip to Byron, Lennox is a lovely, small beachside town.’ Hmm. Sounds quite quiet :) Which it really is. Apart from the beach which they say has some of the best surf on the coast, including long right-hander breaks, and Lake Ainsworth, a lagoon just back from the beach, there’s nothing much to see. The lagoon is particular though. Its water is softened and made inky brown by tannins from the tea trees that grow on its banks, and it makes your skin feel great. It’s also popular for sailing and sail boarding, and has a sandy, shady little beach. That’s it! Trixie brings us back to Byron where the weather has gone through a noticeable change. It’s raining. It’s different. But it’s Byron. We get some delicious Mexican for dinner and.. hmm.. 2 x Corona, 4 x Smirnoff Ice and a bottle of white wine :P And drive down to Watego’s where some more people are having dinner under the covered bbq area in front of the famous Rae’s on Watego’s, rated by CondeNast as one of the world’s top 25 hotels.

It’s January the 8th.. No more, no less than a month has passed by since the first time in Byron, the first time on Watego’s. It was the beginning.. and it is the end. Or perhaps there are no beginnings, no ends; there are only middles. And the middle was amazing.

Royal Pines & Cascade Gardens

After a few quiet days over the NY’s (relaxing at the pool as usual), my phone finally rang. It was Pinnacle calling to see if I wanted to work at the Royal Pines Golf Resort in Ashmore, not far from here. It was Tuesday afternoon and they offered me a shift for the same night, which I had to turn down as Paul was back on the GC and we had been planning to go out that night. And between the two, I believe you know which one I chose :) Again I must say I didn’t really expect to see him again, but the happier I was when he turned up at my doorstep just two days after the NYE. Welcome back! So we decided to take a walk down to Broadbeach to avoid the crowds in Surfers Paradise. Living right between these two main centers of the GC, it’s actually pretty convenient to walk to either one. While Surfers is definitely the local night life and entertainment paradise where something’s going on every day of a week, then Broadbeach has some really nice top end bars and restaurants which I find much more intimate and relaxing. And although we didn’t have a dinner in any of them that night, but ended up having a nice chat in Cascade Gardens, a beautiful park behind my house, it was a great night out which I won’t forget. At some point it started to rain.. drizzling soon turned into a heavy rain fall.. and it was really nice to sit under one of those covered picnic areas with tables and benches.. and enjoy a good company.

Anyways, coming back to the Royal Pines, Pinnacle found me a few more shifts till the end of the week. As Ann was now working at Toscani’s Café on Cavill Av, it was my first Pinnacle shift without her (except for the Gabba where we were so cruelly separated from the very beginning). However, I guess I’m a big girl and able to do things on my own :) The first night at the Parkview Restaurant was actually much fun, the staff was very friendly and the job quite easy as it was a buffet dinner. I met a nice Brazilian girl Ana who later gave me a lift home as for public transport Royal Pines is in the middle of nowhere with no buses whatsoever after about 6 pm. I also met a Swedish girl Sara who had only started a few days ago and heaps of other nice people (Kat, Celina, Richard, David). If I hadn’t worked there through Pinnacle, I’d probably apply for a position directly with them, but with the restrictions of the agency I now can’t. It means that once you’ve worked through the agency at some hotel or venue, you are not supposed to apply directly with them for a period of 6 months. Avoids agency staff to run along. The day after I was scheduled for both morning and evening shifts, and had to be there by 9:30 am. Ann came with me this time to do a day shift as well, but we ended up working in different departments again. My shift was actually pretty extraordinary as I had to replace somebody at the staff canteen, so instead of serving the guests I ended up serving the other staff, which was way better and more laid back :) Even though, as I later found out, it had been a very busy day compared to the usual with heaps of staff on duty. The night continued at the Parkview buffet dinner where I was already like one of the ‘own’ :) The third day, my birthday, I did go for another morning shift, but after setting, unsetting and resetting a few tables (because somebody decided to have black table cloths instead of the white ones) and running a few trays of snacks out to the guests at the tennis competition held at the Royal Pines, I decided to finish early as there was not much to do. And it was my birthday!! I should’ve stayed at home to prepare the party anyway. Oh, one thing though. Did I tell you about Mr Josh from the other time I was working at the Royal Pines before Christmas? Probably not. Well, this young gentleman, obviously not brave enough, asked Elizabeth, another girl working with me, to get my phone number for him by the end of the day :) Which he didn’t get :) Well, he was there on Friday.. and obviously recognized me while passing by with a few platters of snacks. It was so funny to watch how he continuously ran to get another one.. one by one.. instead of taking a few and not have to come back again :) Hmm.. He didn’t have more luck than the other day though. I was gone before he came back to take the 20th platter.

Happy Birthday! <:o)

5th of January 1984, 23 years ago.. It was a cool winter day in Tartu, Estonia.. Not that I remember but I suppose it was :) It was my birth day.

5th of January 2007, 23 years later.. It's a hot summer day in Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia.. Which I will remember. It's my birthday. It's one special birthday.

It’s summer (which never happened in the past 23 years on my birthday). It’s Australia. It’s pool and barbie. It’s wine and champagne. It’s dancing at Melba’s. It’s Ann, Paavo and Tiit, Meelis, Ash and Arpi, Paul and Jan, Teele and Karin. It’s fun!! Thanks, guys!!

And mom and dad, sis.. and all my friends back home.. or around the world :) Thanks for all your cards, emails, scraps on Orkut, sms and phone calls! So glad to have you!! xxx

Old age is always 15 years older than I am! :)
~ Bernard Baruch

NYE in Surfers Paradise

Crash! Boom! Bang!

24 hours are enough to find a job, work a day, quit a job (or two), celebrate the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007.

I guess coming back from the Fraser holidays wasn’t easy. Christmas was definitely fun but once the party was over, we all realized it was time to do some work in between all these parties and holidays. Tiit had suddenly decided to put an end to his Aussie adventure and fly back home (personal reasons – don’t be too curious! :-)), which left Jarno here on his own. Well, not exactly alone as there was a bunch of us here, but the famous team Tiit & Jarno had lost its ‘bigger’ half. After an accurate analysis Jarno took a few days to think things through and searched for a job up on the GC to stay a little longer. On Thursday we even jumped into Molly and drove up to Southport to stop at some of the job agencies. Can’t say we were successful. Mostly because of the holidays, everything’s been pretty quiet on the job market. They say most of the recruitments were made right before Christmas and it’s gonna be silent for at least the next couple of weeks. And where was I right before Christmas? Spending my amazing holidays on Fraser, of course!! (a) Wrong timing, wrong timing, but felt so good to make myself this fabulous Christmas present :-)

So the whole week has been pretty much a complete relax. I forced myself to go jogging with Tiit a couple of days, which was definitely a good thing to do after the enormous Christmas dinner. I remember talking to Ann back home how we would wake up early mornings and go jogging on the beach. That was also why we wanted a house close to the ocean. And right now the beach is just there and nobody seems to care.. because the pool and spa are even closer :P The Australian welfare! We’ve also had a few great movie nights right on the beach in the center of Surfers Paradise this week. The city has set up a big screen on the waterfront and people can just bring their own blankets, chairs and popcorn to enjoy free beach cinema under the stars. Even better than the old school drive-in cinemas where you can watch a movie from your car. Well, less private, but with the choice of movies that were on these nights (Toy Story and Finding Nemo), I guess the privacy was not essential :-)

I missed the Saturday night’s Ice Age though as somewhere between the pool, beach and cinema I had also found a job. Actually more than one. Billy Baxter’s, a fast food restaurant-bar on Cavill Av, and Baritalia, an Italian restaurant-bar on the corner of Chevron Towers, took my resume, had a glimpse at it, and obviously in need for some more wait staff over the holidays asked me to come in for a 2-hour trial the next day, which I successfully passed. Of course! :-) Billy Baxter’s is right on the main pedestrian area in the heart of Surfers Paradise and offers a wide range of all typical ‘high fat’ Aussie stuff, from burger to steak and 2-stack pancakes topped with syrup and ice-cream. Baritalia is a mid-range Italian restaurant with international staff but Italian chefs. Both really fast paced and busy, they asked me to start immediately on the 31st. Billy Baxter’s in the morning from 9, and Baritalia in the evening from 5, from which I did the first shift but didn’t make it to the second one. Don’t know what happened, my very first little breakdown here in Australia; just suddenly felt I was doing the wrong thing. Or at least not doing the right thing. Probably it wasn’t the best decision to start working in two different places the same day and find myself in a situation where I couldn’t decide which one I preferred.. if any of them at all. So I quit. Too easy, K. Think twice the next time you run into something fully enthusiastic. Feels so bad when you then give up.

Anyways, decision made, steps taken, life goes on. And it goes on real fast on New Year’s Eve. Right into the next year, right into a new year.. which we celebrated at Tiit (our 2nd Tiit) and Paavo’s new Pacific Plaza residence on the Surfers Paradise Esplanade, with a great view on the beach where fireworks hit the sky every hour from 9 pm. Heaps of wine, heaps of beer, heaps of champagne. 2007 came differently than any other year. On the beach, in Surfers Paradise, in Australia, Down Under. With baton races and attempts in long jump between the two teams Kairi and Ann. Note that thongs were used as batons and champagne bottles stuck in the sand as signposts where the runner had to turn back. Let the children play.. it gets better with years :-)

Happy New Year 2007!!

Time to take a little while and contemplate on the past 12 months. 2006 was a good one. Had a great job, graduated from the uni, did some traveling (Barca, Lisbon, Croatia trip), but not only.. Applied for a WHV, moved Down Under.. And here I am now.. having the time of my life. 2006 was a good one for so many of my greatest friends. Friends back home that graduated with me. Friends in Italy. George and his high priority master studies (T.V.T.B!!). The newly weds Matleena and Ivan, such an awesome wedding!! The same goes for Helin and Urmas, such a beautiful day with you!! My dear Mirjam who gave birth to her little baby boy right before Christmas on the 16th. I'm so happy for you!! My little sis that is studying in Montpellier and traveling back and forth between France and the U.S. Love!! (a) Heili, you are one of the best girlfriends in the world! Miss you heaps. Kalle, you are so special!! Hope you'll achieve what you are striving for!! And come and visit as we planned. Mooni, I'm so proud of you girl, be brave without us and do attend all courses! ;) Mari, you take the lead for all of us, what a successful business chick. Ann.. my dear Ann. You have no idea how great it is to have you here with me. To wake up with you and fall asleep with you :-) Ash & Arpi, thank you so much for your never-ending friendliness, hospitality and help! You two are so great!! Paavo and Tiit, you are the greatest guys I've met in such a long time. Surfers won't be the same without you here! Paul.. you put a sweet, sweet end to a great, great year. Love you all!!

~K~ xxx