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Hi all,
Well I arrived in Brisbane, and initially stayed with Karen in Tin Billy's.
From here we ventured out of the city one day to go to Wet and Wild, which was soooo much fun. I enjoyed every ride that we went on, though at the end of most of them you had an awfully unattractive wedgy! Also did actually think I was going to die on one ride; it was extremely steep and fast, therefore when you went over a bump you actually came off the slide and as I was unable to see due to the tidal wave hitting my face I wasn't sure whether I was going to land on the slide or on the ground below. It was very hard to keep your arms folded across your chest in that circumstance!
Bizarrely our favourite ride, was one for kids. It involved 6 people racing down a slide, taking off on a green light, which made the precision of your timing in which you pushed off the top, extremely significant to winning the race! We saved this until last, though we had already been on it about 100 times! We were both really concentrating on the traffic light, refusing to talk to each other, and had a great start. We flew down the slide and as we crossed the finish line, checking where our opponents were positioned we jumped for joy at our first and second places! What a great finish to a great day! That is until we realised we had both gone off to quick at the finish line and therefore hadn't been placed at all! Very amusing! Oh whilst there we saw Vin Deisel's brother too and Karen made a Dad giggle/splurt when she announced, perhaps a little loudly, that if she pushed her boobs together, water still dripped down her belly, as her bikini was still really wet!!! A very good day out, with fun had by all!
Karen's chap Ben and his friends were staying in Brisbane at the same time as us, though they were being true backpackers and camping at a site, a little out of town. One evening we went there for a bbq and cake (don't you always have bbq and cake!?!), which was good fun especially because we played drinking games. However I think i must have had a little too much goon, as I lost on my round of categories, the topic being 'Disney Villians', can you believe it!?! They were all just too good, damn it! Karen is some secret category specialist I think anyway, as she always wins it!
Karen and I went on a sight seeing bus tour to get our bearings, though it was conducted by Mrs Moody Beyatch unfortunately. As the bus pulled up and we hopped on I apologised and said "I'm very sorry I don't have anything smaller than a $50, but I have $2 if that helps?" (The fare was $22) Mrs Beyatch replied to the effect of "Well that doesn't help me. You have 5 minutes to go and get change and then the bus is going." So I rush to the bank which was the closest place to get change and hop back on before she leaves. Karen and I are eagerly waiting for the tour to begin and the commentary to start, when the tour guide turns and says "By the way, I'm not in a very good mood today," - no s***! - "and I don't really want to be here!" Great think we, pleased to have paid $22! In all fairness she didn't do a bad job once we got into it, though I did think at one stage when I asked a question I might get thrown off. Politest voice possible: "Mmm excuse me, could you tell me what the river here is called?" Mrs Beyatch, coupled with a look of death and a hint of sarcasm in her voice, replied, "The Brisbane River." Along with feeling like she was about to attack me I also felt rather stupid and was glad that it was just Karen and I on the trip.
On the Saturday I went to stay with Tracy, a friend who I used to work with, her husband Luke and daughter Chloe, who was 9 months. They live in a really nice suburb of Brisbane called Paddington, which has loads of little cafes and boutiquey shops.
They live in a beautiful Queenslander home. I was so pleased about seeing and being in one, as I was becoming a little obssessed about what they looked like inside and I was tempted to knock on some randoms person's door and ask for a tour, which would have made me mad. Luckily I didn't have to. Queenslanders are typically one storey houses, (as most are in Oz actually!) on stilts, to enable air to pass under the house and keep it cool and, the best bit, has a veranda that runs round the outside of the house, which we sat out on for breakfast and dinner.
Inside their house was just as beautiful. Each room was decorated simply and that combined with the long window doors in each room made it very airy and light. The ceilings were high and there was wood panelling on the walls.
Tracy, Luke and Chloe were very good to me whilst I was there. They fed me very nice food, gave me nice wine to drink, showed me around their part of the world and even told the Easter Bilby that I was staying at their house, so that he didn't forget to bring me an egg!
With Chloe and Tracy, I visited Mount Cootha (is that how to spell it Tracy?) where we ate ice-creams on the green, whilst taking in the spectacular views of the city and it's surrounding suburbs. Apparently in ration to the small population Brisbane is one of the most spread out cities in the world!
On Good Friday we all journeyed into the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Luke drove us up to Mountville, which was a really cute little town, with one street of shops - my favourite being one dedicated entirely to Christmas - little cafes and great views across the Hinterland, which at times reminded me of Britain it was so green. We stopped at lots of look out points along the way, one called Mount Mee, which is believed to have derived from the aboriginal term for look out, 'Mia Mia'.
Tracy and I had a walk into Paddington one morning, which we rounded off with a passionfruit cake in a small cafe. I haven't ever had passionfruit cake, and it was so delicious, that I have decided that passionfruit is a very underated fruit!
I went to Brisbane Museum, on the Sunday which was good to kill time and met the guys in the afternoon at the lagoon on the South Bank. Yes there is a man-made huge lagoon, with a beach in the centre of the city. It is great for adults and children alike. Chloe loved the water too and didn't cry when she got water in her face!
Whilst they stayed at the lagoon, I went for a wander around the streets behind which were full of market stalls, selling the usual touristy gumph, such as didgeridoos and boomerangs etc, but it was nice. In the evening we went to Kangaroo point to watch the sunset over Brisbane, made particularly special by Luke and Tracy's idea to bring cheese, biscuits and wine. I would say it was a perfect evening.
One evening Tracy's Mum kindly babysat, whilst we went to the West End. Luke and Tracy took me to their favourite Indian restaurant, which I have to say it did rate very highly for me also. Indian restaurants are quite different in Oz than in England, for example chutneys do not come with popodums and they have so many more varieties of nan bread too, good food all the same, this place being the best Indian food I have eaten since beginning my travels!
After dinner we walked around the area a little, to have a peek at the other restaurants and bars when to my horror I saw up ahead people sitting outside a cafe, smoking from giant bongs.(Mum, they are bottle like things that people use to smoke 'wacky backy'!) I wondered how the hell they were able to get away with that, without being shut down by the police! It wasn't until closer inspection though that I realised it was actually a tobacco shop and that the bong-like instruments (like the one the caterpillar uses in Alice in Wonderland, don't know their name!) had several pipes coming from them to enable friends to smoke the same tobacco all at once. Very odd!
I also visited the Brisbane Museum whilst I was there, and although I was a little disappointed at the lack of information about Brisbane, they did have a great exhibition on focussing on Brisbane between 1965-1985; I went to the Town Hall where you could go up the Clock Tower for great views of the city, which was particularly good, as it was free and I had a lovely walk along the the river, which was very chilled with my Ipod and the sun beating down.
I left Brisbane on the Monday, though could definitely have stayed longer, as I liked the area very much.
The end of my journeys seems to be looming closer and closer now. I can't believe I only have a month until I return home and get back to reality (or start saving for my next trip, ha!), but I can't wait to see everyone.
Love you all loads.
Lynds x x
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