(Lloyd)7 hours a weird fly time, by the time you get up in the air, and have a bit to eat, watch a movie, you only have a few hours for a bit of kip. And if that isn't forthcoming, it sort of doesn't happen. So it didn't happen! Touch down in Brisvegas around 6.30 am
Usual car shenanigans, having to negotiate central Brisbane rush hour traffic and familiarize myself with an automatic again. At least all right hand drive familiarity (like Singapore) Took the clan up, and up, and up to Mt Glorious, the rainforest only 35k north west of Brissie. I used to work up there, fixing the roads, and remember the stunning scenery only too well. After a tidy breakfast in a café up there, we risked one of the rainforest trails. Lots of bird noises, beautiful canopy, and some nervous kiddies. As it turned out with good reason. ... in one split second I saw Chrissi leap in the air, and a long, green snake slithering quickly only about a foot away. No idea what it was and didn't hang around to find out, as all gout pains put to one side as the 4 of us got into Usain Bolt mode :) All good fun now we live to tell the tale :) Used to encounter these sorts of things a lot back in the day, but usually in the company of local rednecks who knew what to do with them.
(Carys) After taking some travel-sickness tablets the 7-hour flight went smoothly. I even ate most of my food, and as I have touched on many a time, I despise plane food. Quantas might possibly be my favourite airline I have ever flown with. The entertainment was fab, food was great, service was wonderful. I really enjoyed that flight.
After landing 'Down Under' we collected our baggage and got on with all the blahdy, blahdy blah parts. Security checks, stuff like that. Then, we went to the Avis hire car station to collect our hired car. It's bright red, like ketchup, my favourite, and after a short think, we decided to name her Alice.
This may sound weird to you, but it's sort of a tradition now. We name our cars - the ones we own, hire cars, any caar that is with us for a longish period of time. Our two own cars are Amy and Snowdon. Our America hire car, last year, was called Jordan. Now, we have Alice.
After collecting Alice we drove her up 'Mount Glorious', a local mountain. We ate a delicious breakfast, even though we'd had a small breakfast on the plane- - I gave mum half of mine. I had a full breakfast, sausage, egg, toast, bacon - the lot! It was super tasty!
However, kit did not really live up to it's name, as the snakes and spiders lurking in the shadows gave US ALL the creeps. We had almost made it out alive, when near the very end, a savage attack occurred. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. I didn't even see thee critter. Me and Bryn simply strolled ahead, unaware of the beady-eyed, meter-long, emerald-green snake slithering, and hissing beside a rock. It gave my mum the fright of her life, and that scared the rest of us too. We ran for at least 5 seconds, and then agreed it was safe. Although of this little mishap, I saw some unbelievable views from the mountain.
After that we were able too check in at our hotel, and go to the pool! WOOHOO! It was a small little thing, but it was still fun. Later on in the evening we 'strolled' a 'SHORT' distance to a nearby pub. (My dad made us walk for like, 5 blooming miles, constantly saying, 'oh, it's only ten minutes' or 'it's just on the left here!') We met an old work from of my parent's, and had dinner with her. (MEGAN) Overall it was a fun night. Now I'm writing this and I am so so so so so tired. I think I ZZZZZZZZ just want ZZZZZZ to fall ZZZZZZZZ asleep ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
(Lloyd) I think we were all feeling like this by the end of the day, but after checking into Hotel Urban, getting used to the Brisbane traffic, took a stroll down into the City Centre. Being Chrissi and my anniversary, and not something we make a fuss of unless a big one (not giving card companies even more pointless money) it was nice to mark the occasion where it all started (Flight Centre) and where Flight Centre started (Brisbane) - a more meaningful gesture I think.
We did take a few other landmarks from my previous life as a backpacker in this City. Think Brisbane is a good city when you are part of a community, which was the Aussie Way Backpackers and Paddo Bar back in the day. One changed a lot more than the other.
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