Oz

From Melbourne we flew north to Brisbane – a city most recently famous for the floods that devastated it.  We were most relieved that the climate had much improved in the months since the flooding, and Brisbane is once again the hot and sunny city that Australian’s know it to typically be.  However, the gorgeously balmy temperatures are perfect, not just for Queenslanders, but also for the biggest spiders I have ever since in my life (that weren’t in a box at Edinburgh’s “Butterfly Kingdom”), and so Phil and I spent the majority of our time here walking on the roads, out of fear of face-planting one of their monstrous webs that tower above the pavements.

Though Brisbane is not bestowed with a stylish personality as is possessed by its southern State Capital counterparts, it is a pleasant place which embodies more the spirit of a large town than that of the vast city that it is.  But the reason we came to Brisbane was less about seeing the city (which we did do a little, but far less than we had with Sydney and Melbourne), and more about spending time with some of the people in it.  Donna’s sister, Mandy, and her husband, Chris, kindly accommodated us during the week of our visit, and we had a very relaxed time in their lovely townhouse, where we spent much of our time hearing about their travelling experiences (like us, they travelled for the year following their wedding)  and planning the next part of our trip.  Over the course of the week we met Donna and Mandy’s mother, Alma, who is Phil’s great-auntie on the Thompson side, and their other sister, Paula.  In a lovely coincidence, Phil’s auntie Rosemary was visiting Brisbane from Northern Ireland during the same week, and so in spending time with her we had another little reminder of home. 

I’ll admit to feeling a little bit left out as Phil met one relative after another, but fortunately one of my old colleagues from Jigsaw is living in Brisbane for six months, and so she and I were able to get together for some girly chat (which one tends to miss out on when travelling round the world with a husband!) and we were able to lament our homesickness together over coffee and muffins.  Seeing faces from home certainly does lift the spirits, and came at a good time having been away now for so long.

Our time in Brisbane ended marking a month since we arrived in Australia, with only two and half weeks to go.  Up until this point the trip had been most comfortable – less like travelling and more like a series of pleasant city breaks enjoyed in quick succession, staying in lovely homes, drinking wonderful wine, being cooked delicious dinners and enjoying freshly ground coffee every morning with breakfast.  Sadly, this life of luxury that we had quickly become accustomed to was not how the journey was to continue; we are backpackers after all.  It was with great anticipation, some anxiety and much excitement with which we went to collect the campervan which was to be our home for the final leg of our Aussie adventure – ROADTRIP!