SeaFire 2024

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First official day of winter is here! And what a day it has been. I had 16k steps before Mikael and my day even begun so to say that I’m tired would be an understatement.

Today, instead of Mikael being out early going for a run, he slept in while I spent the morning at the beach playing social beach volleyball with BVGC again. Stella from Wednesday was there again and we started strong together and kept going strong. It was so much fun! The morning started with no wind, no sun, but still like 20C. Optimal conditions. The wind took off a bit later, but wasn’t too bad. 3 hours later, and I was done! Got to talk a bit more with the locals, and apparently there is only social beach volley over here. No organized trainings or groups  for development. Like where are all the good teams? Apparently they all move to Europe to continue with their beach volleyball careers.

After a shower back at the granny flat, we took the tram up to Cavill Ave where we first had lunch at Pancakes in Paradise (savory mushroom and chicken crepe and sweet pancakes with syrup and chocolate fudge), then some shopping (Mikael got a pair of thongs and a sweater for $60, this years bikini models didn’t fit me at all either, so I will wait for my old ones to be sent down, haha) and then the big event of the evening: SeaFire!

SeaFire is a fireworks competition that I think goes yearly? Anyway, we had little expectations, just heard that there would be fireworks on 1st June. We were not disappointed! There were three firework displays, Italy first at 6pm, then UK at 7pm and Australia finale at 8pm. They all had choreography to music; Italy more towards local opera and such, UK to a little bit of everything and Australia movie music. Italy was good, some parts of UK was good and Australia was very relatable with Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and more. It was a great experience! And the displays were all non-comparably better than GP’s New Years firework in Gothenburg. Shot from boats out in the water and viewed from the beach with thousands of other people was magical! It was raining quite a bit, and we were super cold in the middle of it all, still soaked when we go back home, but it stopped before the final. Stella joined us too. She’s here on a WHV (working holiday visa) and will move on to Perth on Monday – we had a good couple of days together).

All in all, great day!

In short: yesterday we didn’t do much. We learned how Aussies recycle (everything recyclable in one bin, everything else in the other). And in general, it’s very clean here. Hardly any garbage on the street at all. No chewing gums, no trash, no nothing. Some shopping carts here and there (but that might be because we live close to a shopping center). The public restrooms are also very clean! Back home, I would hold it until I was back home, but here, no worries at all.

Videos from the display are on my Instagram, under highlights “Down under”. I should be able to upload videos here, but the wifi here is just too bad…

Surfer’s Paradise. Super touristy. Not for us. But now we’ve seen it!

Today’s adventure: Local tram

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We are still completely knocked out in the mornings. We set the alarm for 8am, but snooze through it and wake up at 10:30. But that’s not too bad. If we spent more time outside, walking and taking in new impressions, than these half days, I think we would be completely dead.

Even if we didn’t get out until like noon, we still managed to see a lot of things. On today’s agenda was to use the public transit here. There are several buses going around here and one tram, G:Link. It was super easy to buy a card at the station (we live by the end station in the south), they leave every ten minutes on average and stops at every stop. They were super clean and the cards were so easy to use. There are machines on every station, so you tap the card before you go on, and then when you get off again. Very convenient.

So we are living in Mermaid Waters and decided to go up to Main Beach and check it out. There is a scenic point called The Pit Gold Coast which didn’t look like it was too far. We gave up after going a third of the way from the tram station.

We live on the orange dot, took the tram all the way to the light green dot and walked to the dark green dot. That’s when we got tired and turned back.

Today’s realization: GOLD COAST IS BIG!

Much bigger than we thought. And it’s long. When we move onto our next place (Coolangatta) in three weeks, we will be one hour south of here, which is already kinda south in GC), even though it looks so close on the map. Insane!

We walked around in the Marina north of Main beach where huge yachts were stationed. We also saw that there are whale watching boats there. Humpback whales are migrating from Antartica now so we might just take one of those tours out one day.

Main Beach.

Southport, where we will stay our last three weeks.On the way back, we actually struggled to find a restaurant to eat at. We jumped off the tram at Surfer’s Paradise, but all the restaurants seemed to be at the stop before: Cavill Avenue. So we went to Broadbeach and had dinner at a bar, The Lukcy Squire, by the shopping mall The Oasis. The Philly Steak Sandwich was actually really good. And even if it was simple, it ended up costing 35 AUD per person with one soda as well. It’s expensive here.

Beach volleyball

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We slept much better last night, but were still super tired when we woke up and didn’t leave bed until like 10:30. Started the day with a little bit of shopping since I’m missing sport bras for instance. Found one at LSKB, another brand I’ve never seen before, there are lots of new stores around here, and got to use it for my first beach volleyball session later. We also got some food at Woolworths.

Beach Volleyball Gold Coast had social games today at 3:30pm and I was a bit nervous about the wind. Even if it was strong, it was consistent and I tried to use it as best as I could which actually felt really good, up until the point where I got a set from a player I didn’t know and didn’t time it at all. My reception was surprisingly good, and most of the setting. We also played 4vs4 and mixed which also confused me a lot, haha. But it was so much fun playing again (even if it was only a week ago I played back home) and the sand at the beach was so fine! I could get used to this.

We had dinner at a pub nearby and then walked back home through the more central parts of Broadbeach.

Chicken and mushroom pie with coleslaw and chips.

Jetlag?

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It’s been two really slow days after the intense two first days in Brisbane. I don’t know if we got delayed with the jetlag or something but we’ve both been so tired and sleeping bad.

Yesterday, we spent all day unpacking and going over our clothes that we managed to bring. I have everything I need normal-wise up top but am missing everything bottom except two pair of shorts, the jeans I flew in and the two new pair I bought in Brisbane. When it comes to my exercise clothes, it’s the opposite. Several tights and shorts, but only one tank top and one sports bra. Mikael missed all his exercise clothes plus lots of underwear and all his extra shoes but had decently even with everything else. To leave the house a little, we went shopping, both more food but also shoes and workout clothes for him.

Yesterday, we also cooked dinner in our tiny kitchen. Spaghetti and meat sauce but without the pasta since we only have one cooker and didn’t want to wait. We had avo on the side instead. And wow. What amazing avocadoes they have here! And for only 1 dollar each! And they’re big! Amazing!

Today, Mikael took his new workout outfit for a test run while I took a shower and fixed a bit at home. I didn’t go to bed until midnight last night, but woke up at 3 am and was super awake and couldn’t go back to sleep for another two hours.

When sleeping until 11, doing a little bit of fixing at home, the day is over in no time. Had leftovers for dinner and watched a documentary about Australia wildlife on Disney+.

Oh, also! We saw our first cockroach today! It wasn’t anything special, only like 2cm. I will update again when I see one the size of my hand. But for now, every first is still cool! 😎

First day in Mermaid Waters

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First day in Gold Coast. Last night, we were so tired and went to bed at 8pm. Set the alarms for 8am. I woke up at 6 and just couldn’t go back to sleep and finished The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, the third and last Mistborn book (review can be found here, this is still a travel and book blog 🤓) – WOW! Mikael didn’t wake up at 8, but that was fine since I wasn’t done with the book just yet. At 10, he started to move a little and at noon we were ready to walk 5 minutes to Pacific Fair, the big shopping mall. On today’s agenda was buying food and sunscreen, which is a bit of a jungle. It’s important to buy the right one due to chemicals and stuff. Good thing it’s cheaper here than in Sweden, but the good ones are as expensive, if not more so. Shopping at Woolworths was fun, but surprisingly similar to a Swedish store. I was prepared for something completely different, like in the US. I remember loving going grocery shopping there because it was so different. I guess it was different here as well, obviously, but not as much. There were many things we recognized, but also so many more options of everything. It took us a while to go through a fraction of it, haha.

Our next stop was the beach. We’ve been here three days now and I haven’t seen the beach. It took us maybe 20 min to walk to the beach and got there just in time for the sun to set behind the skyscrapers. It was not cold with full pants and a thin cardigan, but it wasn’t warm either. Even if it is around 20C, it’s not really warm. When it’s 20 back home, it is warm. Definitely different climates.

The beach is huge! It’s super wide and as long as you can see! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beach this big, haha! And the sand was squeaky, hilarious. I wonder how that affects playing beach volleyball.

The waves were pretty high, and there was only one place on the beach where you could go swimming, right in front of a lifeguard tower. There was a detailed sign about today’s conditions. The water was 23C while it was only 19C on land.

Review of “The Hero of Ages” by Brandon Sanderson

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Title: The Hero of Ages
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series: Mistborn #3
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 556
Published: 2008, Tor Books
My Grade: 5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

“Description contains spoilers for previous book in the series”

Who is the Hero of Ages?

To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness—the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists—is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.

Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. Vin can’t even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!

 

MY REVIEW

It’s impressive that Brandon Sanderson manages to write a trilogy where all the books are so completely different, yet still hang together and continues the story flawlessly. Where the first one introduces this world of the Final Empire in a very captivating way, the second offers a story that takes a 180 turn when it comes to content and the third is just miserable and hopeless all the way through. Like how will Vin and Elend fix this?? I was prepared for a sad ending. And it kinda was. But I also felt satisfied with it. And it was a happy ending. I don’t think I was very excited to start the next trilogy that takes place 300 years later, but now I am. I want to know what will happen in the future.

I can’t really write anything without spoiling and I’m trying to keep all my reviews spoiling. At the end of book one, you think there shouldn’t be any more books. At the end of book two, you rethink the whole series so far. And at the end of book three you understand the whole picture and want to know what happens next.

I did find it a bit confusing with two very similar story arcs going parallel. But that was about it.

Sanderson is great at revealing things after a while without you having any clue about what will come. You get surprised all the time, because information comes from nowhere but it totally makes sense once you get it. It’s really a delight! 5 out of 5, highly recommend! 😊 

Second day in Brisbane

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Our second day down under has come to an end. We have now checked in at our cozy granny flat in Mermaid Waters (Gold Coast) and will stay here for the next four weeks. I so look forward to not living in our suitcases, have a look at what we got in them and buy whatever we need.

It was raining when we woke up today. When we checked out at 10am, we weren’t really in the mood to go out, but the drizzle wasn’t too bad, and our sense of adventure got the better of us. We put the bags in the hotel and went on a walkabout. Even if it was grey and a bi of drizzle, it wasn’t so bad. 19C and the rain was barely noticable. It got warm as soon as we walked, but a bit chilly when we sat down. It’s very comfortable. But colder than in Sweden right now apparently, haha!

We walked across Story Bridge and through Kangaroo Point and along the Brisbane River to Southbank. We had a coffee at The Jetty, walked around, hid from swooping birds (no, we didn’t, it’s not swooping season yet, but Mikael had a small bird almost flying into his head honestly), saw the man-made beach Streets Beach, were super tourist-y by the BRISBANE sign, watched the Wheel of Brisbane (a copy of Lisebergshjulet) and spent some time inside the Queensland Museum.

The Queensland Museum was free and we watched both of their current exhibitions; Insect Agency and Dinosaurs Unearthed: Explore Prehistoric Queensland. Did you know that there are 1,25 million insects to every human on Earth? Or that Australia imported beetles 50 years ago to deal with a huge pasture poo problem? Or that three quarters of all of Australia’s 450 species of butterflies live in Qld? I really enjoyed that exhibition on insects. Mikael got really tired (and doesn’t like bugs for some reasons, something new I learned about him after more than four years) and we didn’t spend as much time as I wanted in the dinosaur exhibition. It was so interesting. The magafauna of Australia, wow! Supercool!

Mikael skipped lunch because he had troubles with his stomach after last night’s pasta. But I got hungry so we went to a sushi place in Queen Street. In Australia, you get a sushi roll whole, and eat it like it is. So weird. But it was soooo good! Also, the soy was packaged in small fish bottles. Very cute!

We walked back to the hotel, ordered an uber and Mikael fell asleep in the car down to Mermaid Waters. Since we arrived, we have had a lovely video call with his dad and wife and will now go to bed, at 8pm 😊 We are exhausted to say the least. 18k steps yesterday, 15k steps today. 33h of traveling the day before and lots of emotions.

First day in Brisbane

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We have arrived down under! And more specifically in Brisbane, Queensland. We flew in last night at 8pm after 28h traveling. 33h door to door, which isn’t too bad considering where we are, haha! It took us 32h to Malapascua, Philippines and that was only for a two week vacation. Although, there might be a bit more to see and explore in Australia (a whole continent) than Malapascua, a 5sq km big island with no motor traffic.

Yesterday (the past two days?) was chaotic and stressful. The day started with us having to leave behind two 23kg suitcases since we had been promised that extra bags at the airport would cost 2000 SEK each. But when they told us they would be 13 000 SEK, we had to leave them behind for our mom’s to take home. I think most of my clothes were in one of them. Most of Mikael’s shoes. Our diving equipment… That was the first set back.

Our first flight to London was short but okay, nothing special. Three hours layover in London, then onto the 17h flight to Perth with Qantas that turned into a bit more than 16 due to good conditions. That’s a long flight! But it was really nice. Good service, good food, free snack and drink bar, good places to stand up and stretch. I had a bit of bad luck with my window neighbor. A plus size person. It was fine up until they fell asleep and just couldn’t keep their arms together and one of them kept falling down on me. Every two seconds for about half an hour. I didn’t really get to enjoy the full seat I paid for which was setback number two.

The flight was on time, but we still only had an hour before the connecting flight to Brisbane. So the crew put us closer to the front so we could get off the plane quicker.

Perth Airport was surprisingly small, considering it is the gateway to Australia basically. We had to retrieve our bags to check them in again after going through customs and border control. This was setback number three. One of the bags had ripped open in the zipper. At this point, I was kinda just laughing at the trail of underwear the bag must have left behind, haha. Good thing we vacuum packed most of our stuff.

Border Control was super quick, asked us if everything we declared (wood works – Dalahästar, small wooden and painted horses from middle of Sweden, feathers and shells – on the dream catchers we got from Mikael’s mom, and Mikaels prescribed medication) came from Sweden and didn’t even ask to see it, even if we presented them to her anyway. We were grateful, with nothing to hide, and super stressed out about the connecting flight. At the new check-in desk, we got some tape to hold the bag together as much as we could and then went straight to the gate, straight onto the plane and were among the very last people to board. Insane!

I thought there would be a setback number four when we saw that a full rugby team joined our flight. But they were so quiet during the whole flight and I managed to get some sleep after catching up with people with amazing flight wifi!

Taxi to our hotel, where we had amazing view over Story Bridge. Went to bed at around 11pm and had a hard time getting up at 9am so we wouldn’t miss breakfast.

We stayed in the hotel room for a bit after and didn’t head out until at like 2pm. I don’t know if we were still tired, but we were so cold in the room. People are not joking about that!

Today was all about walking around CBD, shopping what we “lost” and always asking ourselves if we were truly here. It is unreal!

After half a day walking around here, I have to say that I do have a good feeling about this city. I know we only saw a small portion of it, but it was pleasant and not as big as we initially thought. On the map, it looks like Brisbane is just a lot of urban sprawl with family houses and everything central, is pretty much within walking distance. I might have to change that statement once we’ve seen more of the city, haha!

We walked to Brisbane City Botanic Garden where we saw bin chickens (White Ibis is more correct I guess) and water dragons (lizards, didn’t get a picture of them unfortunately, only a video on Instagram stories). It’s so cool seeing something out of the ordinary Swedish wildlife.

I got a couple of new pants since I think all of mine except the ones I flew here in (which I was planning on throwing away). Mikael got a new pair of shoes after walking around in thongs (flip flops) all day, haha.

We thought it would be easy to find a restaurant by the river, but it turned out to only be bars. And the one we actually found and sat down by was expensive. But it was our first night out in Australia, so we made it a bit luxurious.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw a huge flying fox! It even stopped in a tree to hang upside down just above our heads for a few seconds before flying away again. So cool!

We have also made our family members get Instagram and Snapchat so we can spam them with videos and pictures instantaneously, haha!

The big ferries going on the Brisbane River are called CityCats and the small ones are called KittyCats. I find that hilarious!

Review of “Winter’s Heart” by Robert Jordan

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Title: Winter’s Heart
Author: Robert Jordan
Series: Wheel of Time #9
Narrator: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 24 hours 12 minutes
Published: 20011, MacMillan Audio (originally published 2000)
My Grade: 2.5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

Rand is on the run with Min, and in Cairhein, Cadsuane is trying to figure out where he is headed. Rand’s destination is, in fact, one she has never considered.

Mazrim Taim, leader of the Black Tower, is revealed to be a liar. But what is he up to?

Faile, with the Aiel Maidens, Bain and Chiad, and her companions, Queen Alliandre and Morgase, is prisoner of Savanna’s sept.

Perrin is desperately searching for Faile. With Elyas Machera, Berelain, the Prophet and a very mixed “army” of disparate forces, he is moving through country rife with bandits and roving Seanchan. The Forsaken are ever more present, and united, and the man called Slayer stalks Tel’aran’rhiod and the wolfdream.

In Ebou Dar, the Seanchan princess known as Daughter of the Nine Moons arrives–and Mat, who had been recuperating in the Tarasin Palace, is introduced to her. Will the marriage that has been foretold come about?

There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it is a beginning….

 

MY REVIEW

Taking a break from Wheel of Time didn’t really help me get my motivation back. When will this flat story get some action going? It feels like it’s not going anywhere and Jordan gets so little done in so many words. Time-wise, I’m not sure during how long this full book takes place. It felt like years, but probably weren’t more than a few weeks or so.

What is good though, is that Winter’s Heart only follows a few characters so it’s much easier to get into the story. Although, when there is one chapter or one part of a chapter that has a brand new character and we don’t know who that is, it’s impossible to guess. The world just feels too big.

I’m keeping my hopes up though, it will get better! And even if it is flat and very easy to zone out, the 10% at the end are super eventful! It also does feel very real. The writing is amazing. I just have a hard time with this dragged out story. Does it really have to be 15 books? Oh well. It did end on a very very exciting note though. That’s basically what all of them did so far. 2.5 out of 5. Not bad, not amazing.

Review of “The Return of the King” by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Title: The Return of the King
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Series: The Lord of the Rings #2
Narrator: Andy Serkis
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 21 hours 52 minutes
Published: 2021, HarperCollins (originally published 1955)
My Grade: 5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

As the Shadow of Mordor grows across the land, the Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, has joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and takes part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escape into Fangorn Forest and there encounter the Ents. Gandalf has miraculously returned and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman. Sam has left his master for dead after a battle with the giant spider, Shelob; but Frodo is still alive — now in the foul hands of the Orcs.

And all the while the armies of the Dark Lord are massing as the One Ring draws ever nearer to the Cracks of Doom.

 

MY REVIEW

This trilogy was over so fast! Even with 20 hours per book, they were over in no time. Andy Serkis was amazing. I honestly think he could pull off any book. The story is great, but he takes it to higher levels, for sure!

Even though Serkis is doing a wonderful job of narrating, it is still fairly easy to zone out every now and then. For example during the description of Minas Tirith. Especially (unfortunately, I think I have to say), since I “know” what it looks like from the movies. Another thing about that scene: the great battle at Minas Tirith was over in no time, very uneventful and was over after only 30% of the book. I am actually happy about battles not taking over the story like it can in more modern books. I find it hard to follow along. So this works out perfect for me. The focus of Tolkien is definitely on dialogue and world building rather than action packed battle scenes.


Book 5 only follows Aragorn and that part of the story and book 6 follows Frodo and Sam. I do think that I like it that way. The story becomes whole in a different way. Even if the timeline is not being followed by the minute.

The ending is different! Both compared to the movie but it also has another feeling compared to the rest of the book. It’s almost a bit comical. And perhaps a bit out of time and place?

I am glad I finally got to finish this trilogy. When I was 10 or 12 or something, I was too young and barely got through the first two. I should have continued though since The Two Towers was the slowest one. The ending gets a strong 5 out of five possible.