A True Adventure

We have been in Brisbane for nearly 3 weeks now, so I thought it was about time I wrote something about our time here. We arrived in Brisbane on Monday 13th July. We were met at the airport by Marey (an old friend of my sister Leah’s, from when she lived in Brisbane 10 years ago).  My sister Leah and her friend Elissa were also waiting at the airport for us. When we came out on this trip we didn’t know Leah was going to be in Australia at the same time, but she decided to do a trip around America, Australia and also Asia, and it just happened that  we were in Brisbane at the same time. It was funny seeing Leah in the Brisbane airport after not seeing her for 5 months. It felt like we’d only been away for a couple of weeks after a while of speaking to each other, the time has gone so fast.

We went back to Marey’s house, where we are currently staying in Brisbane and Leah went back to her friend Elissa’s. Marey is really laid back and friendly, she has made us feel very welcome in her home. The first day we just slept as we hadn’t got any sleep on the overnight flight from Japan to Brisbane. Then in the evening after sleeping, we went for a walk into the city to Kangaroo point. The walk from Marey’s house to the city takes about 1 hour.

First week in Brisbane (13th-20th July)
Monday 14th July- We met up with my sister Leah on our first day in Brisbane city. It felt weird catching up with my sister in Brisbane, on the other side of the world! Leah lived in Brisbane for 1 year, 10 years ago, so she knew her way around the city a little. We went to visit the art gallery, although I have to admit I don’t remember much about the gallery as me and Leah were just chatting and catching up with each other. We then walked over to Roma street parklands. There is a large lake in the middle of the park and Lot’s of different tree’s. We then took the sea-cat (ferry) across the river and got some beautiful cold rock ice-cream. This is ice cream prepared on cold rock, you chose which ice cream you want and what sweets/chocolate you want added to it.

Ruth and Leah in Roma Street Parklands-Brisbane

Other things we did this week:
Visited South Bank, where there is a man made beach over looking the city. This is a really lovely area in the city, where you can swim, relax on the sand or grass and have a barbecue or a picnic. There are electric barbecues all over the city, where you are allowed to use them free of charge.

Thursday 16th July we went to the Sunshine Coast with Elissa (an old friend of my sisters, from when she lived here). Elissa met us at the train station and drove us to Noosa beach. It is winter here in Australia, so the water was a little cold, although we couldn’t complain as their winter is like our summer (better actually). Elissa brought her 4 year old son Sam with her. Paul was enjoying building a big sand castle on the beach with him. Then Paul decided to start digging in the sand to see if he could dig right down to the water. Sam decided to try also, and was just as competitive as Paul. I told Sam, yours is much deeper than Paul’s, he didn’t believe me however and wanted to keep digging.

Paul and Sam digging till they get to the water!

The beach was gorgeous, with beautiful golden sands, and a relaxed atmosphere. It felt amazing to be laying on the beach in the middle of winter and yet it was over 20 C.

Ruth and Leah at the Sunshine Coast

After relaxing on the beach for a while we went to Coolum beach to get ice cream and we just sat by the beach for a while. Elissa took us on the scenic drive home, it was so beautiful seeing the land from up high and also seeing how flat Australia is with the occasional mountain in the distance. Sam was keeping me occupied in the back with his transformer toys, so I have to admit I probably missed a lot of the views from outside the car window. It was just so nice to be on the road and to see things that you wouldn’t see if you just got on a train.

Friday 17th July-We had a very chilled out day today by south bank, relaxing by the water and taking lot’s of pictures. We also located where we were going to have our barbecue for Saturday. Leah had planned a barbecue to get together some of her old friends from 2000 when she lived in Brisbane.

Saturday 18th July- We went to woolworths (Supermarket) to get food for the barbecue. Paul was very excited about having sausages for the first time in 5 months. We walked into the city, which takes about 1 hour from where we were staying. We found a barbecue by south bank, in the city. All the barbecues are free for anyone to use, the only thing is trying to get one before everyone else does. We got there early so that we could reserve one. Everyone started arriving at the barbecue about 1pm. Leah’s friend Jason Kay came from Gimpie, with his wife and 2 children. Jade, Carol (Grace) and their 4 children came. Marey Christou, Justin Obrien and Elissa Hooper (Guy), her husband Michael and two children Sam (age 4) and Katie (age came. Everyone brought their own food along. It was really nice meeting some of the people Leah knew from when she lived here. It’s funny seeing how people have changed or what is new in their life. There were 8 children in total. I was once again highly entertained by the children, as usual. They had me playing chase with them on the grass, they were too fast for me to keep up with them. Children have so much energy!

We had so many sausages left over at the end. The Ibis’s (birds) kept coming up to the barbacue and stealing them. I threw my veggie burger out to see if they would eat it, but they just stuck their noses up at it. I guess they are too spoilt with all the barbacues around.

Ibis stealing the sausages from the Barbecue

We went for a swim at south bank (man made beach) with Jade, Carol and their 4 children. It was pretty cold in the water, but I braved it anyway! Jade and Carol’s children were showing us some break dancing, the youngest is only 2 and even he knew some moves! After saying goodbye to Jade and Carol we walked Leah over to the west end, where she was meeting Justin to go to a latin dance class. Me and Paul went to the ciema to see The Twilght Saga (Eclipse).

We will add the other blogs from week 2 and 3 soon. We are currently staying near the Sunshine Coast, in a town called Nambour. We are staying with the parents of one of my sisters friends. It is a really lovely home, with a swimming pool outside.

Ruth and Paul