Another week has passed us by in the campsite here in Newmarket and it is beginning to take its toll!

Whilst we have been looking for jobs and apartments we are obviously trying to save as much money as possible, which has meant that we have been spending a lot of the day in the tent reading over the local newspapers and backpacker magazines. In most places this wouldn't be such a problem, but then most paces don't have dickheads in the corner playing damn diddle-dee music on their ukulele for ten freaking hours a day! Every. Single. Day!!!

However, we are much closer to moving out of here within the next week as we have both found ourselves some employment and a rather nice one bedroom apartment that we have signed some documents for, which we are hoping to move into next weekend.

We had a look around at a couple of apartments in the Valley and a couple in the city centre but it was the Saville in South Bank that won our vote as soon as we walked in, as it was much bigger than any of the other places that we have looked at and is within easy walking distance from the centre of town. The apartment is just back from the lagoon and the Brisbane River and although we don't look out over the water, our place on the eleventh floor does have some stunning views over Mount Cootha where the sun sets in the evenings. The bottom seven floors of the building are a hotel and there was a nice inviting atmosphere when we walked in through the reception and bar area, unlike a couple of the other places that felt a little cold and quiet. There is a gym and a lap-pool and spa on the second floor that we can use and there is free internet in the actual apartment and all of these little extras were much more than anywhere else could offer. We can even get room service if we want!! South Bank itself has changed a lot since we were last here and is now a major destination in Brisbane, as there are now dozens of restaurants and cafes and a couple of pubs as well as lots of take away outlets. There is also the IMAX cinema that claims to be home to "Australia's largest screen", which is the building next door to the Saville, so we are definitely going to be in a prime location.

Starting on Monday, Jen has hooked up some IT work with the government just up the road from where our new place will be so there are only a few days of getting ready using the campsite showers and trying to get back to the tent through the quagmire without ruining the work clothes in the mud. Meanwhile I have become what many of us fear most…..the door-to-door salesman! Selling for one of the major phone companies over here, AAPT, I am now into my third day of traipsing around the inner suburbs, harassing single mums, lay about bums and the elderly, all in the name of a better service. The money seems to be rolling in nicely for now (must be the accent) but the hours suck as most days don't finish until around 10:00pm, but it did get us the all important letter of employment to get us into our plush new pad in a week.

During the last couple of days we have been joined by the three Scottish musketeers Julie, Chris and Joanne who have moved to the campsite for a few days before they move on down the coast. This has given us some relief from the insanity around us in the campsite and it's been really good to have some friends along that can distract us from our surroundings. As a result there have numerous opportunities for us to enjoy the finer things in life, such as the high quality goon that is available here at the bargain price of just $5 for four litres of wine! We even attempted to join in with the bare foot bowling that goes on just over the road on one of the few sunny days that have greeted us, but we when we got there we were confronted by locked doors and no amount of "open sesame" could get us inside!

So, just one week left and then we will hopefully be out of here and into somewhere with walls a roof and more importantly…..an oven!!