Morriña

Most of you don't know what that word means. It's Galician and has no direct translation. It's a kind of pain in your soul when you are out of your homeland 'sic'

I don't feel it, but I feel quite weird when today I was in the Gym (doing nothing, cause I was f**ing tired :P) and in TV, they show the Illas Cíes. Those are a group of islands in front of my homwtown. There was a TV show called 'Backpackers' on [v] channel, (an Australian copy of MTV). Those guys where moving around Europe in a caravan, and they were in Spain for a while. After Spain, they were in Porto, where they found two german girls. Those girls told them about the paradise, 3 little island in front of the Galician coast...that it was the Cies Islands.

They spent one day, complete lost in Vigo (city where you take the Boat to go to the Islands), in Mercado de la Piedra, getting lost with Vitrasas, and all the typical things that you can do in Vigo, they went to the island. And they stayed in the paradise for two days, making me remind my homeland....

After the bucolic scene, I realized that know it's raining 3 times more than here, and there is no way to go to the beach :P... and I felt happy to be in Australia.

Sometimes Brisbane reminds me Barcelona

The lizard from Park Güell...no, but almost remind to the Gaudi masterpiece. It's in West End, next to a greek restaurant (One day, I have to talk about greek-australian restaurants)

South Bank Parklands, or How Brisbane is cooler than most European Cities :P

If some of you have made zoom in Brisbane in Google Earth, you will realize that the city is near the sea...but not in the seaside. The closest beach is around 12 km far from the center of the city. You are guessing how I go to the beach almost everyday. It's a strange, and I think, unique case in the world that a huge city is so close to the seaside but not in the seaside. How do Brisbanites solve that problem? As everything done by Queenslanders, in a practical way. If the city has no beach, let's build one!

South Bank Parklands has builded for the World Expo '88, that took place here in Brisbane. Before, it was only a part out of the city not so much developed and even forgiven by the Town Hall governments. After 1988 World Expo, some clever guys decided to make South Bank, the centre of culture and leisure of the city. After some changes, converting some of the Expo buildings in Museums and Theatres, and building also, the City Beach, the SunCorp Piazza (and open amphitheatre) and the Wheel, South Bank Parklands opened on 1992.

South Bank is so nice idea and so well maintained, that most of tourist or foreigners here think that you have to pay for it in a first moment. But no, it's complete free to use the most of facilities, and the ones that are not free, are slightly more expensive than in the centre, that is less than 10 minutes walking far from the parklands

Also there is a Rainforest Garden (that's why the photos are not wide, because there are always trees in the middle) where you can find ibis and the same lizards, that I took a photo of them last week. Yesterday I found two of them fighting :P

If you visit this place on weekend, you will find an open market. That's the place where I found the Kangaroo Scrotum :P

I think it's better you have to come here to see this kind of paradise in the middle of the city, cause I have no enough words

New Header!

Today I was on the Beach and when I was covering my face from the strong sun, I realize about that could be a good photo :P. Then there is my wrist in the South Bank beach.

Aussies love Kangaroos

Some people didn't believe me when I told them about this fact. Here is a photo in detail of this matter.

Every 'pair' costs $10 AUD and they seller guaranteed the origin of the balls (Only pure Australian Kangaroo Scrotum). I'm leaving to the beach, see u! 

Australian Humour

This was an ad that I found next to the English school

Everybody loves americans, specially my Saudi Arabian roommate :S

I saw the next BEST logo in Australia...

Maybe the next step for the BEST logo?

This is the logo of the public transportation of Brisbane

Christmas at Australia

As you know, here in Australia is summer, a really hot summer, but Christmas are approaching and all the European people here feel so confused... You feel strange going on shorts and and seeing xmas trees when is 35º degrees outside. I don't feel like xmas at all :P.

Friday, we went to the cinema to see 'How to lose friends and alienate people' (Yes, Laura, films in Australia are in english...) and in the way to the cinema we pass through Queen St (as always). Myer Store is like 'El Corte Inglés' in Spain, 'Harrods' in England or 'Fokas' in Greece. They were doing the promotion for the new decoration of the store for Xmas time.

And what we found is that: Reindeers in the middle of Australia with a 30º celsius: All the Australian people surrounding poor animals that it seemed that they have no problem attending to the crowd. Yes, the concept of 'Australian' is wide, they are Caucasian, Asian, Indian... then most of them has no idea on their cultures about reindeers. Me too, I didn't know that the horns of the reindeers are also hairy :P

Then here the incongruities begins. We have the Reindeer and the sleigh... but in the store windows you can see Santa Claus under the sea, working to prepare all the presents for the children. Why does he need the sleigh?

Also there is a chorus singing xmas songs, but they are in short sleeve... and Natalia, one crazy sevillian girl that I have found here in Brisbane studying english with me, that she cannot talk quiet during the film...

Also, Australia people loves live music, no famous, you can find live music where ever you go. And for Xmas... yes, see the photo, I have no words to describe it, African drummers with Xmas, with xmas tree behind... this is fusion, and no blues and flamenco.

Australian Christmas; Right to take away to the beach! :P

Australian Issues

Australian People has a quite interesting sense of humour, it's quite difficult to see what is politically incorrect, and what can be a joke. Here is the door of a car that I found yesterday in Brisbane:

Sometimes Brisbane reminds me Jurassic Park :P

Walking on the street I found this lizard, it was around half meter long and it made a lot of weird sounds...

Melbourne Cup

Today was Melbourne Cup, a horse race that literally stops the country. But you don't know how much. I have no so much photos as my camera has no more battery, but I'll try to explain you what happen today in Australia.

Melbourne Cup is the most famous horse race in Australia, the first edition was 1861, and in the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. The race is 3200 metres, and it's for horses over than 3 years, it's always the first thursday of November. It's very important to say that the race is in Melbourne, Victoria, and all the photos were taken in Brisbane,Queensland, where I live. (The distance is about 1500 km between both cities)

This is Queens St, the most comercial street in Brisbane, like la Rambla in Barcelona, Preciados in Madrid, Principe in Vigo, or every Ermou St in every greek city. This photo was taken around 8:00 am in the morning, when I was passing to go to the beach (no gym today :P). This betting place was installed only for this race, and it was the only thing crowded in Brisbane at that time (most of shops opens at 9:00am)

Queen St at 8:00 in the morning....

This next photo was on a typical place for lunch on the working days, that it uses to serve some sandwiches and these things for quick lunch. Today was like for a weeding with a lot of people wearing suit, and with every woman with every kind of hat, pamela or a thing that could be sticked on the head, lunching with Champaign and seafood, all luxury

This is not a weeding, it's people waiting for seeing the race on TV

Let's go to the important thing: the race, it took around 3 minutes and it was quite exciting. To show you how much, you only have to see the photo finish....

Photo taken from online edition of Daily Telegraph, from Getty Images

Albariño!!!

Moving around... I found that bottle, it was the only one that they have, but the guy from the shop told me that they have sold it pretty well... Galicia Calidade!

The price was 38,50 AUD, that I think that it's a bit expensive (It was a 2006 wine)

Byron Bay

Hello Bodies!

This weekend, some friends and I rent some cars and went to Byron Bay.  This point was discovered by Captain James Cook, as almost all Australia :P on May 15th, 1770. It deserves his name to John Byron, who circumnavigate the earth 4 years before, and also was the grandfather of the famous poet Lord Byron, the one who died fighting for the independency of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.

In fact, Byron Bay is the easternmost point of Australia Mainland (a kind of Australian Finisterre), with a very kind and famous lighthouse.

Me, relaxing a bit...you have to walk a lot to reach this point.

With some of the people around, all of them are studying in EF Brisbane, except the guy sat down. It's Matias, an Argentinian that we found in the Backpackers, that has been traveling for 6 months surfing in the Pacific...

Byron Bay is also famous for surfing, as one of the most famous beaches in the world. You can find the typical Byron Bay t-shirt from surfers brands as Billabong or Rip Curl. That's why Byron Bay is full of surfers, surfers shops, surfers renting stuff, and everything else for surfers.

This is Acuarius Backpackers, the hostel where we slept on Saturday, and it's like this, full of surfers, and Aussies, quite hippie

Personally, I think that it's the perfect place to disconnect from real life for 2 or 3 months... maybe when I'll get serious...