Day 81 - Noosa to Brisbane
Trip Start
Sep 02, 2007
1
82
243
Trip End
May 01, 2008
Brisbane,
Australia
Thursday, November 22, 2007
All I could think about was the England game, and while I was in the shower (communal and shared with about 50 others!) Katie shouted to me that they were showing a repeat of the game in the common room/living area.
When I got to the telly it was 2-1 to Croatia in the crucial Euro qualifier, and I couldn't believe it. Even though our manager is clearly a complete donut, and our players a bunch of underperforming egomaniac millionaires, I still didn't believe that Croatia could really beat us at Wembley when the chips were down...
The mood in the tv room was suicidal, I asked how we were playing and was showered with negative expletives. The guys said that we went 2-0 down in the first 15 minutes, our defence was like the Keystone Cops, and we were very lucky to be awarded a very dubious penalty. Great!
As I digested all of this and formulated my own stream of expletives, Becks crossed from the right, Crouchy took the ball down and tucked it away like the increasingly prolific goalscorer he's become. If only his club & country managers could see it!
We looked like we'd get away with it and cling on, but 10 minutes later their coach made a couple of very good substitutions (unlike Steve McDonut), and as a result they went ahead again, and hung on to a very precious victory.
I joined Katie in the internet room and I was so angry that I could hardly speak. What a bunch of (beep!) muppets.
We finished off what we needed to on the internet, and then got in the car and headed to Noosa Heads. We weren't sure whether to go back to the National Park to do a different walk to get to Alexandria Beach, or whether to take the car up to a scenic lookout point on the other side of the park.
The weather wasn't great so we decided on the lookout option, figuring that we'd seen the beach yesterday and it was a 2 hr return hike, which we couldn't really be bothered with. The view was cool up there though...
So a few minutes later we were headed for Brisbane, and for my good friend Andrew, known simply as "H" throughout our time together on an exchange program at a university just north of Dallas, Texas.
H is a fantastic bloke, and has an equally lovely wife called Simone, who I'd met on my last trip to Oz just after I met Katie 6 yrs ago. I couldn't wait to see them both again.
The ride down the coast was pleasant and smooth, so about 2 hrs later we were looking for a parking spot in central Brisbane. This proved rather challenging as the parking costs were absolutely astronomical, one place charged A$25 for up to 2 hours! WHATeverrrrr....
We eventually found an ok rate, parked up and wandered into the very heart of Queensland's capital city, and to a nice lunch spot I remembered called Anzac Park, which provided an oasis of greenery amongst the skyscrapers.
There's is a big foodcourt next to/under the square, so after looking at every type of food you could imagine, we plumped for some Malaysian laksa noodle soup. I finished formatting our latest mini-DVD for our parents and then polished off the spicy soup, which was lush.
We then headed off to find a Post Office, in order to send a parcel of stuff back to Katie's parents in the UK, something we'd been meaning to do since getting here.
We'd been lugging around a few Asian guidebooks which we didn't need anymore, some CDs with our photos on, another couple of mini-DVDs from the video camera, and a few other bits & bobs (including James' cufflinks which I borrowed for Milly's wedding, sorry mate!).
It was about A$70 to send the parcel home with a basic level of insurance, so hopefully everything will get home in one piece. (Pam/Ian - they said it would take approx 5 days so you should have it by end of next week, please let us know if you don't have it by then, thanks!)
For some reason lunch & the post office took an inordinate amount of time, so we didn't have much left to explore the city and we headed back to the car. As we did so H called to arrange meeting up about 10 mins away in Paddington, where they live & work.
After a few dodgy directions from her usually faultless navigator, Katie got us headed in the right direction. On the way there I suggested a quick detour to the cultural centre on the south bank, which I remembered had a man-made sandy beach and good views over the river to the main CBD.
Unfortunately the local council are currently redesigning the beach & pool area, so we just had a quick look around, I bought a bucket of raspberry Fanta from Subway, and then we set off again.
H runs his own investment business, clever boy that he is, and Simone now works with him, so it's very much a family business. They employ a few other staff, and have their offices in Paddington, which is a lovely little suburb very close to the city.
We had 30 mins to kill before the agreed meeting time, so I decided to get my haircut, something that was LONG overdue, I looked a right mess.
As usual the guys in the barbers were really friendly, so it was a rather different experience to Hoi An in Vietnam when if you recall I had to cut my own hair because they were so bloody useless!
I felt much better to have my short hair back, so with an extra spring in my step we walked over the road to H's building, and sure enough H was right there on the balcony on his mobile, waving us up.
He wrapped up work pretty quickly before directing Katie & I back to his house, a really lovely house on a cool little street with loads of character.
The roads around his place are REALLY hilly, reminding a bit of San Francisco.
Simone was waiting for us as we walked in, and looked positively radiant, and we soon discovered why, she's just fallen pregnant with their first child! We were delighted to be there right at the start, and it was fantastic for me to see my mate & his wife so happy.
Katie warmed to them both instantly, and vice versa, so we had a great chat outside, lubricated by a few of Australia's finest cold beers, and talked until it was nearly dark. Good times.
We decided to go into town for some food, and they recommended a great little restaurant called the Power House, an old power station which has recently been converted into art space, bars & restaurants.
The menu looked amazing, and the food was excellent, washed down with some lovely red wine, and topped off with some of the best service we've had since we started our travels.
We were very lucky that H cleverly snuck off to pay the bill using the classic old "where's the toilet?" distraction, which was very naughty but very generous. Thanks mate ;)
On the way home we popped into their friendly neighbourhood cocktail bar for some really good cocktails!
I especially liked H's 'espresso martini', which was designed for Kate Moss apparently?!
Simone's brother in Geelong is a cocktail expert, and I think he's got them hooked, could be worse I suppose... ;)
By this time we were all pretty tired, so after being on soft drinks all night Simone drove us back and sensibly hit the sack, and Katie followed soon afterwards.
That left H & I to sit with a few drinks and put the world to rights! We talked our way through the knockout bottle of port which they brought back from Nelson in New Zealand, and then nearly finished off the next full bottle of Penfold's Club as well! ;)
It was sooooooo good to catch up with H, I just wish he lived a bit closer than the other side of the world, we'd hang out all the time. Top bloke and I already knew that I'd be sad to say goodbye tomorrow :(
Eventually we hit the sack at about 2:30am, which was a bit naughty considering it was a 'school night' and H was working tomorrow... ooops!
Being a bit tipsy I forgot to remove my contact lenses (which I haven't worn for months so forgot I was wearing them), and also didn't drink any water... well played, Ray!
We'd enjoyed a wicked afternoon & evening with our friends, and really looked forward to having another morning with them before heading down to the Gold Coast tomorrow afternoon.
lots of love,
Al & Katie xx
