Boy, am I tired. But it's only 6:30 so I'm going to tough it out a few more hours before I crash. It's been a good day though. I spent most of the morning on Queen Street getting some things taken care of. I started at a Telstra shop to get a pre-paid cell phone set up. I brought my old unlocked tri-band GSM Siemens SL-55 with me, so all I needed to get was a SIM card. I had confirmed with a Telstra guy over chat prior to the trip that I could just get the SIM card and pre-paid service for $25 with $25 worth of credit. Not a bad deal, though the rates over here per call are quite high in my opinion. It's tough to calculate, too, since it is all based on actual dollar/cent amounts rather than minutes like it typically is in the US.
After getting that straightened out I headed across the street to the Starbucks to make use of the internet connection there. I had scoped out the plans online prior to the trip and was going to get the ~$35 monthly access package. Unfortunately that seems to have been discontinued but is still listed on the website for some reason. Annoying, especially since the only other option for me is per-connection pricing with a credit card, and that's $5 per 15 minutes or $8 for 30. Not a good deal at all. Tomorrow I will try to scope out some other options. Kiosks aren't much cheaper and don't give me the flexibility to write stuff offline and send/post it when I'm connected.
I am definitely starting to feel disconnected, too. I have the phone but I can't charge it… Yeah, you read that right. Apparently my power supply for the phone only accepts 110v input (unlike my laptop). I thought for sure I checked everything but it looks like I missed that. I have my Windows Mobile phone with me but that is unfortunately locked, and might not even be tri-band, though I think it is. Anyway, another thing to do tomorrow is check to see if I can find a relatively cheap 240 -> 110 transformer. We used these all the time in PNG but I have no idea where to get one. And even if I do, it's probably more money than I'll want to spend. The other option is to see if I can contact Cingular from here and unlock my phone. Not sure if I can even do that, but worth a shot I guess. Otherwise the $25 I spent on a cell phone won't be money well-spent.
I checked my email at Starbucks hoping to hear from either Ben or Amanda Lloyd, but nothing. I thought for sure I had Amanda's number, but I don't, so I have no way of getting hold of Ben or the Lloyds. <sigh> I tried the phonebook but none of the names listed look correct. I might break down and give them a try tomorrow. I did call Matt Holliday and talked to him for a bit, but he didn't have the Lloyd's number. Hopefully if Ben gets in touch with him he'll give Ben my number. I also emailed Amanda but haven't heard anything yet. I'll just keep my fingers crossed. I have lodging here at the Kookaburra for tonight and tomorrow night, so I have some time to work with.
Speaking of the Kookaburra Inn, I am pleased with my accommodations. It's a bit on the pricey side for a hostel ($48 a night), but I do get my own lockable room with fridge (for cooling Solo and bottled Lemon Lime & Bitters!) and sink. The problem is I only booked two nights in the hopes I'd be able to arrange wantok accommodations once I arrived. I have talked to them about extending stay, and they're open to it, but it's Ekka time in Brisbane (some agricultural festival that is apparently very HUGE) so places to stay are just tough to come by. Yet another thing to follow up on tomorrow.
It sucks that I haven't had much time to DO anything yet. I walked around the Queen Street mall area today to familiarize myself a bit with everything, and I got a few pamphlets on the bus system and dining opportunities. I also got a flyer for some Koala preserve that looks relatively interesting. It's supposed to be bus-accessible so I might take an afternoon and check it out.
The bus system looks sufficiently complicated that I will get lost several times. I've yet to find a bus system in any city that makes sense to me though. Trains I can handle - buses just confuse the crap out of me. Maybe after a good night's sleep I'll be able to tackle it and figure it out. I know where to get on a bus - there're stops all over - but who knows if I'll ever actually get to where I want to go. :-)
Well, it's now 7 and I think I am going to cook up some Maggi noodles and enjoy them with some Chicken Twisties and Solo. Mmmmm, it's good to be "home." :-) For desert I have several varieties of Arnott's biscuits. Then for brekky tomorrow some real Nutri-Grain cereal and Paul's Slim Milk. Absolutely delicious.