Brisbane

Guess I should tell you about sunny, sunny Brisbane! I landed just after lunchtime feeling very ill but Mark met me at the aiport and drove me straight to his place where I was staying. Brisbane is a very pretty place and it looks quite tropical with the blue skies, palm trees and the little houses on stilts. After getting to the house (which is huuuge!) I slept all afternoon. When I woke up I met Kalie (Mark's wife), Carolline and Kristy. Carolline and Kristy had been helping Kali paint her new house round the corner, and were staying for the youth night Mark and Kali host every Sunday evening. All the young adults from church come round and have food, games and just somewhere to catch up and hang around. I met loads of cool people. We ended up playing the card game werewolves, prophet and villagers (like the game Mafia) for ages which was fun.

The next day (Monday) one of the guys I'd met the night before, Adrian, took me into the city and showed me all the sights. We walked along the southbank of the river, through the park, across the bridge, went round the museum and art gallery (with decent art this time!) and finally we went to the cinema to see the new Batman film. It was excellent! I loved the joker! Brisbane is a really nice city too- there's some good shops and it's clean and just a nice place to be. We had lunch on the southbank sitting in the warm sun.

On Tuesday I decided to go to Dreamworld which is a theme park on the coast. It took me over 3 hours to get there from Ipswich (the town I was staying in). So even though I left at 10am I didn't get there till 1pm, but at least I got there. It's a very small theme park compared to the ones in England but they still had some good rides like the Big Drop (same as Apocalypse, but higher), the Terror Tower (a rollercoaster like Rita which shoots you up the side of the Big Drop Tower), the Motocoaster (a rollercoaster ride where you sit in motorbikes, very cool idea), the Cyclone..or something...(a shaky rollercoaster with loops and stuff) and then a surfing type ride (a bit like ripsaw but better!). It took me all afternoon to get round all the big rides and some of the smaller ones, even without queues. I wanted to do a helicopter ride because there was a company and helicopter on site but I booked quite late and they couldn't get anybody else to fill up the copter (they needed at least 3 to do the flight) so I got a refund. One of the best rides (after the Tower of Terror) was the log ride because I got VERY wet! It wasn't just a little splash but a HUGE one and I was soaked from head to toe! I did the rapid's ride too but I hardly got splashed on it. I finally left around 5:30pm but didn't get back till 8:30. When I got back my back, arms, hands, and legs were covered in hives. I thought they were insect bites but now I know they're hives from the cat. Didn't know I was allergic till I got back to Jacqui's and was still getting the hives. Mark found me some clarityn though and they soon went.

On my final day in Brisbane Carolline took me to the Gold Coast. Again there is a very pretty town there but with more seaside type shops. There is also a really pretty beach with lots of surfers and sunbathers. Unlike Melbourne, Brisbane is really warm during the day. We went to something called Infinity which is a lot of rooms with mirrors and lights- like a funhouse- that you move through. There are rooms which are meant to be like space, or like the inside of a computer, or with lasers or big bouncy balls you can jump on. It was loads of fun! It's quite a big attraction there. After we'd had icecream (yay for Baskin Robbin's!) we went to a shopping centre and did some window shopping. I could have bought so much but there was definitely no room in my suitcase... Finally we drove back to Ipswich and I went with Carolline to her chuch home group. A few people from Sunday night were there too which was cool.

On Thursday I flew back to Perth via Sydney. I have no idea why I didn't just book a flight direct to Perth but it all worked out ok- apart from that my flight Sydney to Perth was delayed by an hour. Jacqui and Kevie met me at the airport again, Kevie in her cute little PJ's and hat. I was so glad to be back in Perth after flying all day and slept very well that night!