Week 1 in Brisbane

Well here we are, 6 days into our Aussie adventure. We've managed to secure a place to live for ourselves (pics will follow shortly). We'll be living on a quiet street that isn't too far from "amenities" including a fruit stand and a laundromat. There is also a used book store just down the street from which we'll be stockpiling a new collection, and the bus stops close by allowing us to try our car-free urban-living experiment.

The majority of our interactions with people here so far have been with taxi drivers, who often ask us to direct them to our destination even though they have on-board GPS systems and we are fresh off the plane. Nevertheless, they are quite funny, and most have a son or daughter that has spent time in Canada, the most popular place being Whistler. I guess their disoriented nature is a function of the rapid growth that has occurred in this city over the past 20 years. In fact, we are told that those who grew up here partition time as pre- and post- expo, referring to Expo '88. Apparently the Expo was a major turning point for the growth of Brisbane as it moved from a country town to a cosmopolitan city. The ethnic diversity here is remarkable. I would say that of every 10 people we see on the street, only about five are of Caucasian heritage. Compare that with rural Maritime Canada where we grew up, where 9.9 of 10 people are descendants of French, Irish or Scottish settlers.

The other striking feature so far (besides the fruit to which Laura alluded) is the water situation. This is unlike anything either of us has ever experienced. The current level of the three dams that service the metropolitan area is 38% capacity. Apparently the levels were as low as 15% just a few weeks ago before the area received some rain as the tail end of cyclone activity (similar to the way eastern Canada gets tropical storm residuals every autumn). This water shortage has many clamouring for the government to take action by either a) diverting water from the Northern Territory and northern Queensland (where there is lots of water and few people) or b) moving the bulk of Australia's agricultural activity to the north. The group with whom I am working here at Griffith University has been assigned the task of determining the kinds of environmental changes that might occur in those areas should either option A or B come to pass. I'll be regularly updating the progress of the project and the water situation in general on this blog.

All told, Canada and Australia are not all that different. Both are former British colonies with weak links to the crown - at first glance I am tempted to say Australia's ties are stronger. If you read the papers here, you realize that national issues tend to be similar - concerns about the housing market, the effects of the weakening US economy, and the looming climate change crisis. With that said, there are plenty of minor cultural oddities, mainly language related, that Laura and I find funny. These include:

Canada/Australia
garbage/rubbish
call/ring
diapers/nappies
fired/sacked
Burger King/Hungry Jack's
Walmart/The Big W
Happy Harry's/Crazy Clark's
washroom/toilet

I’ll add to this list in subsequent posts, as the number of slight differences in language seems endless.

Another distinction between the two countries is that malls here seem to be culturally more important than in Canada, largely because the air-conditioning makes them a popular destination on extremely hot days like the 36 degree scorcher we had yesterday. They even have carpeted floors in one of the major malls! We were in one on Sunday and it was packed with people. Finally, I should point out that the “cruck” or “trar” (the “original” hybrid) is surprisingly popular here. Somehow they don’t even seem out of place, you can picture them zooming across the outback with dust flying behind.

All for now.