Downtown at night, seen from a CityFerry

Downtown at night, seen from a CityFerry,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Underexposed, but I made it with the camera on my phone, so it's about the best I could do. We on the way downriver, looking back at North Quay.

First step in the journey

Downtown from my ferry stop,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Here's a couple of the more interesting buildings in Brisbane's downtown, as seen from the ferry stop just across the river. There are a lot of curved buildings in the downtown.

Here I am

I have arrived in Brisbane. It's been a busy few days and there hasn't been much time or energy to blog. Although my plane arrived at around 7:45AM, I didn't actually get to use my hotel room until nearly 4PM. The hotel just wasn't ready for me, despite my having guaranteed early arrival. Sigh. I was really tired and footsore. Fortunately, I didn't have to drag my bags around. I slept very soundly.

The next day, I went in to the new workplace and tried to get some things sorted out and get to work. I did run into a few problems that prevented me from being fully productive. I didn't really get into the swing of things until today.

Sleep has been a bit of trouble, and I've been waking up at 2 or 3AM each morning, staying up until 5, napping, then waking up to get in to work at some reasonable hour.

Now that I have a local celphone, I plan to take some local pictures and start blogging from Down Under.

The Adventure continues.

Cart full of bags

Cart full of bags,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

And I was off. Three large bags, one carry-on, and a sweatshirt. My life has been reduced from roughly a container's worth of objects to approximately 100kg. I had to do some last minute adjustments to rebalance the weight, and I did have to give up a rather nice pair of boots. Still, so far, it's been all I need.

Red Sky at Night, Sailor's Delight

Red Sky at Night, Sailor's Delight,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Well, it's so long, San Francisco. Here's a photo of the last sunset I saw in the city. There's an old weather saying that I sincerely hope bodes well for me. It was a beautiful, deep blue sky with red-tinged clouds sailing high above.

Storage

Storage,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Hard to believe I have so much stuff. Here's the storage room just before I close it up for the last time before departure. Note the hat, chairs, computers, elliptical machine, bike, futon, and miscellaneous stuff. And that goes back for a ways. fortunately, it goes higher up front since that's more accessible.

Good bye and good luck, stuff. I'll see you when I get back!

My pickup

My pickup,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Here's one of the last photos of my pickup. I'd just finished unloading the last things for storage and decided to take a parting shot.

Last Full Day in SF

Today is my last day in San Francisco. Tomorrow around noon I head out the airport and close this chapter of the great move to Brisbane. Long time coming and I can tell you, it's been a crazy past few days.

The latest excitement revolves around my pickup. I mentioned earlier one of my movers was going to buy it. Well, I haven't been able to get a hold of him for five days. Last night, I called up his buddy to see if he had seen him. Nope. He was "sick, or some damn thing." Great. Last days in town and a big hunk of metal is now without a buyer. I could use the money, but more importantly, I need to find a home for this thing. I can't leave it on the street.

I was planning on using it today to run a last batch of items out to my storage. And what should happen but the "Check Engine" light comes on and thing starts hesitating and backfiring like crazy. No run to Antioch in that condition. So now I have to take it in to the shop and have him fix it as quickly as possible. I just put a load of money into the thing to get it ready to sell, I am going to press him to fix it under warranty. The thing is, it's one more task that will take up very valuable time when I don't have any to spare.

But, I made a first pass at packing last night and I will definitely fall under my weight limits. I am definitely using the third piece of luggage, mostly to bring my records. What hilarious is that the biggest piece of luggage is the lightest, since it has mostly clothes. The smallest weighs the most, since it is loaded with vinyl. Situational irony...gotta love it.

Well, off to the mechanics. Wish me luck.

Probably this will be the last post or next to last before I get on the plane and land in Brisbane.

See you on the other side!

Rounding the Point

Approaching Storey Bridge,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

And not just metaphorically. This photo was taken on the City Ferry. We were traveling from Dockside on Kangaroo Point toward Eagle Street, which is the first stop in the CBD. It had just started raining when I took this photo, and when we had just passed the CBD, I saw lightning strike one of the high rises. A dramatic entry to the downtown, eh?

Although Eagle Street is maybe a kilometer from Dockside as the crow flies, it's at least twice that by ferry. That's because Kangaroo Point is the southern bank of a sharp meander in the Brisbane River. It's almost the tip of an inverted "U" that the bridge crosses over.

The bridge is all steel construction, and looks as if it were built in the early 20th century. I've heard stories about how a bomb shelter was built under the southern buttress of the bridge for World War II, so I suspect it was built between WWI and WWII. It's a beautiful bridge. I walked from the point to the the other side, a neighborhood called Fortitude Valley, and it only took me about 15 minutes. That's pretty easy, and perfectly reasonable when going to that area. Fortitude Valley, or "the Valley", seems to be the nightclub and entertainment center for the city, the alterna-scene to the bright lights and tall buildings of the CBD. It's about another 10 minutes to Eagle Street from there.

There's a group that hosts daily walking tours of the bridge, which I think is really cool. I definitely want to do that some day. They rig everyone for climbing and take the group through the upper reaches of the bridge. Walking across the bridge is really fun. It's very tall, which means at some points, you're even and not very far from the middle floors of some of the downtown high rises. While used mostly for cars to get from the CBD to the southern suburbs and from the northern suburbs to the Gold Coast, there is a very lively walking and biking community that uses the bridge. Even late at night, I encountered foot and bike traffic.

The ferries are awesome and I look forward to commuting on them, at least for a little while. They're clean, on time, and the pilots are friendly. Off-peak hours, the round trip fare from Dockside to North Quay was only AU$3.90. North Quay is the end of the line and farthest downstream this particular route took, also the closest to Queen Street, a big shopping mall. When I arrive in Brisbane, I'll be taking the City Ferry and City Cat. I'll take some photos when I get there, because the boats are really fun. The City Ferries are kind of roly-poly smallish boats that travel between just upstream of Dockside and North Quay.

The City Cats are catamarans that have routes that range much farther up and down stream than the City Ferries. They seem a bit racier and more modern. I haven't been on them, but my workplace is off a City Cat stop farther downstream from North Quay. The Cats don't stop at Kangaroo Point, so I'll have to take a Ferry to the CBD, then catch a Cat to my stop, which is named Regatta. I'm also looking forward to see if there are any bike users on the ferries. I hope so, because it would be fun to ferry around the point then bike from the CBD to work. It would be a good workout.

I'm also rounding the point in getting settled with moving out of the house. I'm down to the final sort, followed by the packing run. I joined the Qantas Club so I could use their lounges, use a shorter line in the terminal when I need to get reticketed, and also because I can bring a third 32kilo bag. That last gives me some additional flexibility in what I can bring with me to Brisbane. I would like to bring some records, CDs and books with me. I also need to bring a lot of papers with me. The shorter line for reticketing is worth the price of admission because the last time through, it took me almost three hours to negotiate the ticketing, luggage security and personal security lines. And, the lounge is awesome because I can rest my dogs, read, and have a bite to eat during my stopover in LAX. I surely wish I'd known about that the last time. I know better now, and I look forward to relaxing more on this trip.

Tickets in Hand

Finally, I have my tickets in hand and my hotel reservations made. Already, I'm setting up a trip to Beijing to perform some training for one of our partners. Truly amazing how quickly things are moving now that the logjam is broken. I'll take another round of pictures of the house before I leave.

Today was bulky item pickup day. I had a mattress, two large pieces of sheet metal, a dead microwave, and a Nordic Track that were sitting around. No charity wants them, partly because they are too big, too hard to sell, and too hard to clean. I sure hope they are gone before I get back to the house. The last thing I want is to have to deal with them again.

I also had to take my Honda into the shop to get it smogged. California requires a recent (within 90 days) smog certificate in order to sell a car. I found this out the hard way when I took the car into a smog station and found out it had been modded improperly. Which prevented me from selling the car. So, off to the mechanic today to get them to deal with getting the thing smogged. A few hours and several hundred dollars later, it is smogged. Problem solved, and I don't care how.

I'm packing up my desk and shipping it off to Australia today. More details. I'm overwhelmed, but also determined to get all this taken care of before I hit the road.

Onward!

Brisbane's CBD from the ferry

CBD from the ferry,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Here's where I'm going. This photo was taken on the ferry ride from my hotel to the city's downtown, called the CBD, or Central Business District. It was a grey day, the first real rain in some time, so the light isn't wonderful. Looming over the ferry is the Storey Bridge, a major bridge that joins the south bank to the north bank over the Brisbane River.

Brisbane is a river city with a narrowly defined downtown. Most of the tall buildings shown in the photo seem to have been built in the last decade. Many are visually interesting. The city seems to be experimenting with different styles. I'll know more when I get there.

Jade, cactus, choke cherry

Jade, cactus, choke cherry,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Here's a photo of my garden. Winter in San Francisco is spectacular for gardens -- it's the rainy season. Here you see a jade plant that's been in the garden since before I lived there. It had, at one time, completely engulged the San Pedro cactus you see just to the left of the jade. Oh, and the jade is in bloom, like most of them in the city. Behind the fence, with the red berries, is what I've called a choke cherry all my life. It's a vigorous grower and requires routine pruning to keep it from overshadowing my plants. Carpeting the garden is oxalis.

For Sale By Owner

I mentioned the other day that I finally broke the logjam on the "last" document I need for my work visa for Australia. There are a few remaining tasks to be done before I actually can go, several of which involves selling large or expensive items like bikes, the car and the pickup. I had the pickup sorted some time ago, the bikes are in the works, but there was a sticky problem with the car. I need to get it smogged, only to do so, the car is going to need some work...it appears it was illegally modified before I bought it. Feh! Anyway, that's mostly a matter of throwing some money at the problem, but then there's the problem of selling it.

Turns out that problem may well be solved. Someone has expressed interest in purchasing it, provided I finance it for them. That's do-able, and makes one less item I need to worry about. Again. Gosh, people are really making this surprisingly easy for me!

Expected launch date: 16-FEB-2007

Phew! A lesson in archiving

Don't believe that an application for a work visa in a foreign country will ever be easy. I've been having a fun time working through all the document requirements placed on me. I got a batch of three tough ones last Thursday.

One involved a chest x-ray, a second a job reference, and the third a copy of my university diploma. I knocked out the reference with one phone call and several emails over two work days, and had that on the third. I started the process to get a board-certified chest x-ray with a phone call and could have had an appointment the very next morning. I put it off until the following Monday, and it only took two hours from the time I entered the doctor's office until I walked out the door (though I did have to detour to another facility). The diploma. Well. That has been a sticking point for almost two months. I started on it at one point and then gave it up since my handler didn't require it. When I restarted, I had to navigate a twisty maze of websites and phone numbers and email addresses until I found someone who could help me. Once I found the correct office (only a week's work), I was directed to the two offices I needed to contact within three phone calls and twenty minutes. Things were going well. It looked like the documents would be on their way within a matter of days. Except, I found out one document was on a financial hold. Two phone calls and three people later, I reached the collections department. Ah.

And there my case has remained over a ten day period. My case was delayed while records were restored from backup. And again, when additional records needed to be restored. Nothing I could do, no agency could be pointed to, no other account person at another name-able institution could be reached to provide the necessary documentation. I must wait for another search of the records prior to 1991. Today came the break in the case. For the first time since reaching Collections, I received a call back. Yes, someone there sought me out to inform me that no records existed prior to 1991 and they had determined to clear my account. At last, I could move back to the other deparments where my documents had languished, and begin the process of having them sent to me.

With this under my belt, I need only deal with taxes and my final packing

and

I

am

outta

here

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'Nuff Said.

Tuberculosis?

I had to go through a bit of a run-around today. Australian immigration requires applicants to get a chest x-ray if they intend to stay in the country for more than a year, or be around children or hospitals. You have to make an appointment with one of the small number of approved doctor's offices in the state, then get there, deal with the paperwork, and deal with the exam. Well, in my case, they wanted two passport photos (the form only requires one). Fill out a form. Sit in the waiting room. It's past my appointment time. Eventually, I'm called into a doctor's office. More waiting. The doctor tells me she would have sent me around if she had known it was just a chest x-ray for a visa. Hands me a form, gives me an address and directions, sends me on my way. It's fifteen minutes across town, though not too hard to find. Only two false starts. Not bad for never having been there before. No parking. Sigh, cough up some change for the meter. Go to the front desk. "That'll be $225." Prepare to pay. "No, wait, you're all right. We bill that office." Fill out the form, hand it in. Wait. Get called. Wait. Sign some paperwork, the radiologist does some paperwork. Stand in front of a target. Get the x-ray. Wait for it to be processed. Told to get dressed and wait in the front. Wait. Get called, get the sealed envelopes. Twenty minutes back to the original doctor's office. Hand in the forms. Check they have everything they need. Told to call back the office in a week for the tracking number.

Elapsed time from entry to exit: two hours. A minor delay, as these things go.

Will Travel for Job

Lonely Luggage,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

Yesterday, I bought a pair of big luggage to haul my stuff from SFO to BNE (that's airline speak for "San Francisco, USA to Brisbane, Australia"). Just about the biggest, lightest things I could find. Now, on to the packing!

B Money

IMG_8787_filtered,
originally uploaded by benjyfeen.

Here I am as B Money, the Reggaeton DJ from SFO, playing a set at a Halloween party in the Bay Area. I hope to get some gigs in Oz.

Soon to be me

Qantas 747 at SFO,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

On my way to Raleigh to visit my colleagues at the home office, I was waiting to borad my plane in the SFO airport. What should wander by but a big Qantas 747, probably inbound from Sydney. While I won't be going to Sydney, it was a great reminder, and very exciting.

While I was at the home office, we agreed on a move date for me. I'll be heading out there on February 8th. Yay! I'm leaving, on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again. And I'll be flying on a big freaking jet, too, just like this one.

Time is accelerating.