First Quarterly Report

As of December 6, we have now been working in Brisbane for 3 months (we arrived two weeks before we started to work, so we have now been here for just over 3.5 months).  Overall it has been a very positive experience.  We love the weather and having a hot and humid Christmas (there's not a lot to miss about -25ºC!)  We really like the city and our neighbourhood, we love how easy it is to get around without a car and no one thinks it is odd that we don't own a vehicle.  We still get frustrated when we need to work hard to do something that would be so easy in Calgary, like finding a pharmacy that is open on Sunday, but those hiccups are few and far between, and very manageable.
We like our jobs but are still adjusting.  The work environment is very different from Calgary: the hours are as long, but no one would expect you to come in on a weekend...you would be made fun of and then ostracized for such behaviour; it is an "open office" environment, everyone from the VPs and managers to the admin staff sit in the same area, no walls, no privacy...hard to get used to for the first week and then it becomes very "team-ish" feeling, which is the whole point or having everyone on the same floor; no one ever blames the technical staff for the weather delaying operations, and, most importantly, there is a clear vision of where we are going and when we will get there (export 3 Bcf/day of LNG, starting in 2014).  However, even though we are so far away, there are still so many similarities in the office environment: rules for everything; there are meetings for each and every occurence, and sometimes the meeting is the occurence; and ALWAYS thinking about the budget!
We have found the people here to be incredibly friendly, whether we are looking for directions or just sitting in a pub trying to watch a new sport.  We have been positively spoiled with the quality and selection of fresh food and the Australian wine industry has exceeded their great reputation.  We have even driven here and not caused any damage.  We feel more welcome here than the time we drove to Nelson BC and had the hotel owner tell us how much she hates everyone from Calgary (of course she was more than willing to take our money!)

We are in a position where the Brisbanites are starting to apologize for the bad spring and early summer weather.  Australia is coming out of a 5 year drought and they are making up for it with massive amounts of rain.  Yesterday it rained 80mm!  But lets be candid, this isn't just a rainy day, it's a tropical monsoon.  Very warm and humid at +30ºC and raining like a bastard...most of the 80mm came down in less than an hour.  (The photos above are the street in front of our townhouse and the side yard, where they are busily upgrading our drainage pipes, hopefully not too late.)  There is a town north of here called Emerald, and they have been isolated by flood waters for more than 2 weeks.  No food gets in, no people get out...that is going to be one crazy-ass place when all of this is over!