First Impressions of a New Continent

Well I made it to Brisbane. My first impression of Australia came from the customs officers at the airport (blonde haired, blue eyed, brawny, and those sexy Australian accents). The quarantine laws are extremely strict - anyone on the flight who had been sick had to be interviewed and I saw some officers taking people's shoes out of their suitcases just because they had some old mud caked on the bottom of the shoes. I guess when your country has vegetation that grows nowhere else, and there is a problem with non-native species taking over, they have to be pretty vigilant.

I found a hostel in the city but I'm getting too old for the hostel atmosphere (shared rooms with people who don't respect quiet hours) and I didn't want to stay there long. It was the only place I could afford, however, since I don't know how long it will take to find an apartment. Queensland is under severe drought conditions, but for my first two days here it did nothing but rain. There have also been horrible fires down in Victoria (near Melbourne) and the newspapers are full of the destruction and ways to help. But for now I'm enjoying the cool rain since Brisbane is normally pretty hot.

I walked all over the city, getting to know the layout and finding things like the transit center, the city library, and even took a wander through the Botanical Gardens.

While the buildings make me feel like I'm back in America, the trees and birds constantly remind me that I'm on a different continent.
This ibis was wandering around the pedestrian shopping street like a common pidgeon. Apparently they are as common as pidgeons, too, because nobody paid attention to them and I saw many more each day.
As I was wandering along the river I spotted a familiar landmark across the water. I figured I could probably find it so I found a bridge across the river and followed the Moroni.I found the temple and met the missionaries working there. They introduced me to a local girl my age and when they found out my situation she offered to let me stay with her until I could find a room to rent. It came at the perfect time as I was starting to get stressed out about not finding a place to live. She was an answer to a prayer and a realization that I'm being taken care of. She introduced me to people at church so I now have contacts of LDS people looking for roommates. Things are looking up and I hope I can get settled in and start discovering the fun things to do in my new city! (Oh, and find a job and make money and start being productive and all that, too, of course . . . . )