This will be my first entry in English from down here as I can’t be bothered with writing ae, oe and aa’s all the time. I also know how irritating it is to having to read them. So here goes my first report from the other side of the world.

We’ve finally found our appartment - a week after arriving, despite everyone telling us how easy it would be. Bugger that! Or perhaps we’re just too picky, not wanting to share and all that. We also didn’t want to stay near the Uni, being that it’s located in Nowhere, Suburbia. And down here, suburbia is dry, quiet and dull. The main centres of an urban lifestyle being Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. I wish I had my mac connected here now so I could show you non-locals on a map, but you’ll just have to imagine it.

Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise as their names (quite obviously implies) are located on the coast next to the beach. Bond Uni, being further inland. And let’s just say, in very rural surroundings. Never mind that though, the campus itself is gorgeous and the appartment we’ve found is smack dab in the middle of Surfers and Broadbeach. Close to transport and in walking distance from them both.

The appartment is quite nice, located in a small cozy complex with an outdoor pool. The unit is furnished right down to the TV and 5.1 surround stereo, internet ready and sports a modern appliance-filled kitchen. It has two large bedrooms with walk-in closets, a large living/dining-room, a laundry room with washer and dryer, a small balcony, tiled hallways and a brand new bathroom with separate shower and bathtub. In fact it’s so new that it was in pieces when we inspected it, plaster everywhere. And it won’t be ready for another week.

So here we are. Stuck for another week, on a sort of non-voulentarily holiday. Living in a hotel is fine, but we’re anxious to move in and start our lives here ASAP. School starts about the same time as we can move in, so we just have to resign in this paradise prison of ours until then. Boo-hoo, I know.

I guess you are probably wondering what we’ve been up to this week, our pictures only telling parts of the story. Yes, we have been drinking a lot dad, but not excessively. We get free meals at the neighbouring microbrewery as long as we buy their excellent beer for $3 for half-a-pint. That works out to about 34 NOK for an OK-ish dinner for two with great beer for the both of us. We’re not complaining about that part. The hotel costs us about 325 NOK a night, and the standards quite high for that as well. Got a TV, own bathroom and access to a spa and everything. If they’d only fix their pool as well everything would be superb.

So, what do I think of Surfers? We came here with both high and restrained expecations and both have been met at some level. We expected it to be touristy, and it is. But not obnoxiously so. The beach stretch for ever, is roomy and with wonderful white sand. There should be plenty of room for everyone. The streets have neon-signs and blinking lights attached to palms, exotic and tacky all at once. The youth down here seems a little bit more rowdy, especially the boys which back home we would call “roelpegutter”. Everybody’s social though, so as long as you just relax you’ll get “How are you-s”, “Where are you up to”, and smiles all over. Nobody down here seems to have the social inhibitions of us Norwegians whatsoever and are happy to stop for a chat, even if you just met in the elevator.

The temperature down here right now as we’re nearing the end of the winter is somewhat comparable to late Norwegian summer. It’s hot in the daytime, somedays in the sun unbearably so. But it chills in the shadows, and in the evenings. Especially when it’s blowing which it does a lot. There’s no islands outside here to shield us from the pacific winds. We did move here for the 300 days of sun though, so it was funny hearing Veronica complain about the rain today (the second time we had it since we came here).

Further down the coast we have Broadbeach, a refreshingly more upscale and relaxed place than Surfers. A place to enjoy a bottle of wine and some olives on a corner-bar playing soothing chill-out tunes. Also, it’s home to the bulk of the better nightclubs around here. All of which are open to five in the morning. Another place to wind down is just a ten minute walk over the river in Surfers to a place called Chevron Island. On this cozy spot we found what might just become one of our favorite spots, the Backroom bar. A family-run bar/pizzeria/barbershop-complex. It gave us a distinct italian feel with a decidedly jolly granddad-type character which happily shared pool-secrets (free pool) and regaled war-time stories of the finer points of surfboards (he started out with a hollowed plywood one), how he became the first shortboard-surfer in Oz and the secret pleasures of hardcore bodysurfing.

And oh yeah, we also missed the Riverside Fireworks of Brisbane thanks to the hopeless lack of anything looking like a program for the festival (Yes it’s hard not having internet access). Thinking they started at eight when they finished long before that, we spent the impulse trip to Brisbane (15 minutes taxi-trip followed by an hour trainride) eating fine seafood (three-crab lasagne and gourmet fish’n’chips) and checking out the infamous Down Under Bar & Grill. Brisbane was nice, but we’re glad we don’t have to live in the big city.

So that about sums it up for us down here, we’re not that much ashamed over having spent the entire day in bed reading. It’s been raining and we have a long time to check out all the local attractions.