I was born in Australia and love it here. I wouldn't recommend living on the Gold Coast though - it's mainly for tourists or young people who love the party lifestyle, not those looking for a career in IT, although you could get lucky. The major cities are your best bet (Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra), although Melbourne and Canberra can be bloody freezing at times. You could live on the Gold Coast and commute to Brisbane as it's about 1 hour drive away. Most people fly between major cities as it's too far to drive (I wouldn't think about driving from Perth to Sydney, unless you like looking at dirt and rocks).

There are many factors that go into weight gain and weight loss. Diet, lifestyle, consistency, genetics, general health and wellbeing... the list goes on. I personally think that no matter what you are trying to acheive, food, consistency and lifestyle are the deciding factors in whether or not you will acheive your goals. Food obviously plays a big factor. Avoid processed foods i.e. pretty much everything available at the supermarket, except for meats, fruit / veg / legumes, and low fat dairy. I'm not sure what your local is like, but ours has all of these fresh items around the edges - I rarely go into the other lanes. Eat regularly too - every 3 hours while awake is ideal (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm), and skip the soft drink (coke / sprite etc.) - it is BAD. Exercise regularly. Not sure where this originated, but "sometimes is as good as never" is very true. If you only workout occasionally, you won't get the results you are after. This applies to food too - eating a healthy meal once every now and then is not good enough. These 2 factors really must be incorporated into your lifestyle. Don't diet. Don't go on a workout craze or buy some silly machine. Change your lifestyle. Make it a daily routine to get up earlier and exercise, eat well throughout the day, and get plenty of sleep. :)

That sure is one big spider. They aren't everywhere though, thank goodness :) I live in Australia and we don't have any of them down this way (don't think that type of spider lives down here...) I think they grow where it's warmer - that's up towards the North of Australia where it's closer to the equator (for those that aren't up on their Geography :) ) Would hate to walk through their web though! Might get stuck! :)