Venturing out

Now that we have been in Brisbane for 6 months, we realize that we really only know one small area around where we live, and the CBD.  We are trying to get to new neighbourhoods not only to get to know the city a little bit better, but also because our lease is up on our townhouse in mid-July.  We need to decide if we want to commit to living here for another year.  There isn't anything wrong with where we are but we do feel like we need to get out and see more neighbourhoods before we decide to stay.  The rental market is really tight, so we need to start looking now for a place in July.
On Friday we went to the West End suburb after work.  It is a little bit edgy and artsy.  There are a lot of independent shops and artisan studios and the main street has every kind of ethnic restuarant you could want.  We ended up having dinner at a fabulous bistro with a hidden courtyard.  This neighbourhood had many Greek and Italian migrants at one time and they planted Cypress trees, giving the area a Mediterranean feel.  The whole suburb is just a little different. 
Before dinner we went into a Japanese themed tapas lounge.  It had a really funky ambience and we probably weren't cool enough to be there.  The real attraction for us were the light fixtures.  It isn't everyday that we get to see a chandelier made of Barbie doll heads! 

  Barbie doll head chandelier (not the clearest, taken with a Blackberry)