{"id":639,"date":"2011-09-25T12:17:38","date_gmt":"2011-09-25T12:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.novodantis.com\/?p=639"},"modified":"2011-09-25T13:27:23","modified_gmt":"2011-09-25T13:27:23","slug":"from-ipswich-to-ipswich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novodantis.com\/?p=639","title":{"rendered":"From Ipswich to Ipswich"},"content":{"rendered":"

And so we had arrived in Brisbane late Sunday night. Lucy was due to begin work with Pet & Vet Springfield Lakes on Monday, at 7am. The drive was half an hour though, plus a half hour contingency, plus getting ready time, equalled a fair 5am start. We found our way to the veterinary practice no trouble; a little place called Springfield Lakes in a town called Ipswich, which I am sure we have heard of somewhere.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Content in knowing I was in a Nuclear-free zone, my return drive to the motel was reassuringly radiationless. I got experimental with the route on the way back; I loathe Satnavs and have managed quite well thus far using the highly advanced “reading signs” method, so this was all playing rule of thumb. I was here to explore and the result led to an overall greater understanding of the area. <\/p>\n

I feel I should mention a few things about driving in Australia at this point. As you may well be aware, they drive on the left as we do in the UK. They also have motorways; but then they also have freeways and highways too. They (sensibly) use kilometres. They have the big 18-wheeler American style trucks. In fact, here is possibly the only place you can expect to be overtaken on a multi-lane carriageway, at national speed limit, by an articulated lorry. And Australian roads, despite being rather gratifying to drive, have a habit of constantly adding a right lane while taking the left one away, all the while reminding you to keep to the left unless overtaking. The result feels a bit like a waiter at a restaurant constantly asking you to move tables, but you’re enjoying a fantastic steak so you’re willing to put up with it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I spent most of the daytime during our first working week getting ready to work remotely as a design contractor. The process of setting this up is not the most interesting thing by any stretch of the imagination so I will gloss over it. Suffice to say that it has its tricky parts; which incidentally pale in comparison to the difficulty we’ve had with the internet. The Sydney hostel, McDonalds Wifi in Ballina & the current Best Western wireless I am using now have all been terrible connections. Since our arrival, in fact, I’ve yet to experience a connection even as good as the one I left behind in Rapier Street (as anyone that used it would testify, that is quite a statement). The trend so far has been improving, so there’s hope yet. But right now we’re down to websites loading every fourth attempt and Skype being connected for no more than three minutes at a time.<\/p>\n

You might think I wouldn’t be fussed being far from the oppressive musty breath of modern telecommunications. Yet in many other ways, I’m not. The Australians love that tacky mobile crap, particularly the Apple ones, even more than the UK. Perhaps if I go out into the Bush I can be content to be severed from decent internet; but more than likely the mobile rubbish will be out there too.<\/p>\n

And so I leave you with an empirical update of my findings thus far:<\/p>\n