The first day… or so

Well the jet lag has most certainly kicked in! I fell into bed at 9am exhausted last night and yet I woke up with all the energy of a 16 hour kip at 2am!

Sunrise from our balcony

We arrived at our apartment in the CBD by 10am on Monday. Even on the 8th floor our block is dwarfed by other complexes and offices around it. We have two bedrooms, two bathrooms and three balcony’s (at least Mike and I can escape from each other should there be a need for solidarity!)



View from another Balcony

We have one large living area with full dining room, self catering kitchen and entertainment system too all with the added bonus of broadband 24/7! Ah, home from home!

So as I was saying… the jet lag, I’ve never experienced it before and I had no idea what to do with myself before dawn! I was having trouble counting sheep when, for some unknown reason I kept imagining giant socks floating passed our apartment instead, it was like some weird Tate Modern version of the insomniacs classic.

Mike left for work at 8am, it’s all very new to us; him doing the 9-5, when he goes to work (on oil rigs)he leaves for weeks at a time, now I’m definitely feeling like the “little wife” sat at home waiting for him to return, especially since I have no GoGo scooter to explore on.

So, what else can one do when they cannot leave their apartment blocks… swim… in the 5th floor infinity pool and spa… do you hate me yet? Lol! I forgot how freeing swimming is, it’s the only time I walk with beautiful symmetric balance!

I had a call from “the hubby” who suggested I taxi it up to the office to meet his colleagues; another first, as a riggers missus you never meet the work mates as they live across the world and no two riggers have the same work pattern, so there are never Christmas parties or dinner do’s to attend.

So taxi it up I did, and here I am. Sat in the office listening to people practically talking another language (Scientists, Engineers etc) whilst I sit in a booth with Mikey’s laptop. So far every one’s been lovely, there’s a great atmosphere, I almost wish I worked in an office for the banter alone. We did go for Sushi in “The Barracks” – funny enough a shopping centre built within the old army barracks. Had some lovely food I couldn’t pronounce or identify.

Tonight Mike and I are walking home and he’s taking me down towards the river banks to see some of the flood damage. I’ve heard lovely stories of 50,000 volunteers descending on Brisbane and random BBQ’s set up down residential streets so that families can cook and make up for their own kitchens being destroyed.

Flood damage - see the water line?

South Bank, back to "normal"



One of Mike’s colleagues still has no electric at his home and said that his apartment block became an island amongst the flood. A lot of his neighbors’ have moved into alternative accommodation but he and his family have stayed put with cold showers and I suppose almost war time entertainment with no TV or computers. I do wonder whether the UK would be so laid back about something so huge?

L x