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I said goodbye to the girls in Melbourne and left for my flight to Brisbane, excited to be spending the next 2 weeks with Ria.
Arriving around 6.30pm on Friday evening, I was greeted by Ria in the arrival hall at Brisbane Airport :)
She then drove us back to her house in Kedron, on the outskirts of the city, which she shares with her friend Charlotte.
On Saturday we took a trip to Dreamworld, a nearby theme park an hours drive from Brisbane, and one which I'd previously visited 6 years ago when I last came to Australia.
Dreamworld is home to the dreaded Giant Drop, a vertical free-fall from a height of 119m. The slow but steady climb to its peak offers some fantastic views over the Gold Coast, before leaving you hanging in anticipation for what feels like an eternity, until the inevitable happens and plummet to the floor in an adrenaline fuelled frenzy.
I somehow managed to convince/bribe Ria to take the ride with me even though she has a fear of heights and promised herself years ago that she'd never go on it ever again.
The views were wicked, as was the rush, however Ria wouldn't know.. she had her eyes firmly shut the whole time! Ha
We had a fun time, made even better that there was barely a soul in sight.. probably due to the fact the park is still out of favour with the public following deaths on a particular ride a short time ago!!!
A night infront of the box with a takeaway has been a long distant memory on my travels, so having the opportunity to do exactly that with Ria was the perfect way to finish off my first full day back in Brisbane.
On the Sunday we ventured out to Queensland's largest mall in Chermside to have a look around the shops and catch a movie. We watched "It".. someone must have removed the "s" and "h" from the title before it was released. It was truly awful but let's blame Ria for that choice shall we?!
The two weeks I spent here were as close to living a normal life as I'm ever going to get while travelling. With Ria working during the week I had a lot of down time to myself during each day, which was perfect to give me the opportunity to do the sort of things I enjoy doing in a daily routine again.. such as watching sport, cooking, working out etc.
First on my agenda was going for a run, it had been way too long, and it was certainly evident. Nearly dying from heat exhaustion didn't help matters either.. man it was hot! But I wasn't complaining, waking up to guaranteed sunshine every day is definitely one of the perks Brisbane has to offer.
Charlotte's dog, a Staffy named Boston, became very attached to me during the day while the girls were at work. I've never met a dog that's so needy, and a little bit weird too. He'd follow me round from room to room, and cry almost every time I closed a door on him or left the house. I also lost count of the amount of times he'd creep up on me in a day, lick the back of my leg and walk off. What's that all about?!
Having a car at my disposal was a great touch.. so I could take Ria to work, pick her up, make trips to the mall and supermarket, and even the driving range too, so I could smash some golf balls around.
Lazy aimless walks in the park were a nice way to spend the afternoons. With being in Australia again I thought I'd have to keep a look out for the sort of things that can kill you, you know like snakes and spiders. Never did I imagine that swooping magpies would be the main threat in Brisbane. Signs are scattered all over the place in park areas warning of potential attacks! Cyclists actually ride around with cable ties attached to their helmets as makeshift spikes to deter these rats of the sky! Ha
I made a trip into the city one afternoon to retrace my steps and reminisce over the last time I was here.. I actually celebrated my 29th birthday in Brisbane 6 years ago.
I wandered down to the popular Southbank which runs alongside the Brisbane River and overlooks the whole CBD. It's a lovely and modern area with an array of swanky restaurants and bars, as well as museums, and is even home to a man made beach.
Speaking of birthdays.. Ria has a passion for baking, especially cakes, and coincidentally I enjoy eating them. She wanted to bake me a cake for my birthday earlier in May when we were in Lima but we didn't have an oven, so she dug out her cake tins and baked me a belated birthday ultimate chocolate cake :) Thankyou x
Super rich and delicious! Definitely not good for the waistline though.
Ria and I took a drive down the coast to Byron Bay in New South Wales, where we stayed for the weekend. Again, I was retracing my tracks from my previous visit. Byron is a small beachside town yet quite touristy with a very chilled out, and almost hippy vibe to it. The beach is the main focus here, however the Cape Byron National Park has a few walking tracks which lead to Australia's most easterly point and the Cape Byron Lighthouse.
With my flight departing from Brisbane the following Saturday, Ria took the Friday off work so we could go out on Thursday evening to Chermside for some Greek food and a good few scoops which was a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed my 2 weeks here in Brisbane with Ria. It was the perfect scenario between having some normality back in my life and getting the opportunity to spend some quality time with Ria again. Needless to say it was another sad goodbye when she dropped me off at the airport.
However, looking on the bright side of things, I'll be seeing her again in a few months time as I'll be revisiting Australia in December.. so we've made plans to spend Christmas and New Year together.
It's now Saturday evening and I'm at Brisbane Airport where I'm about to board a flight to Sydney.
See ya xx
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