°Brisbane Australia, three days visiting Richards uncle and cousins – for once long-suffering had the upper hand on the next stage of our ‘trip of a lifetime’. He sat calm beside me on the three hour plus flight from Christchurch to Brisbane as I sat freaking out at all the wild animals, insects, reptiles, sharks etc. that may or may not – crawl, jump, dive, slither, snap or bite terminating me from existence!
We had it on good authority – our youngest daughter – that Richards cousin Andrew and his wife Jodie – both originally from New Zealand with its almost zero population of nasties – would be great hosts for the duration of our three day stop in Brisbane. We were not disappointed.
Walking out from the airport we were not prepared for how hot this country really is and although our hosts were waiting with their air-conditioned car our clothes were already sticking to our bodies.
As my head swivelled 360° outside the terminal looking for any rogue predators – Jodie happily informed me their house – under her orders – was fumigated at least once a week to keep down the risk of any nasty intruders of the crawling/jumping variety. Already we were best friends!
Brisbane city – cousin Andrew had to work behind the scenes at the Adele concert taking place at the Gabba, leaving Jodie with the task of entertaining us for the evening – no mean feat considering we had only just met for the first time ever!
We drove straight into Brisbane city from the airport dropping Andrew off at the Gabba before parking up beneath Eagle Street Pier in an underground car park. We took the steps up which led straight out onto the pier. From the terraced pier busy with bars and eateries filled with workers and tourists like us, tall skyscrapers loomed above our heads.
After a couple of drinks getting to know each other – instant ease – at a River front bar we moved on to George’s seafood restaurant, not that any of us had seafood. But we did have a table overlooking the Brisbane River and Story Bridge.
Had we had more time we would have liked to spend more time in this vibrant city, however the time we did have, was happily spent catching up with family we had not seen for many years, all who had once lived in New Zealand and had followed our recent travels there, especially the South Island where they once lived.
At Uncle Rogers we browsed through old photos he had from when he first emigrated to New Zealand from Kilnwick in Yorkshire – one of the original £10.00 a passage skilled workers needed out there. First working in labouring jobs including helping to build the Haast Pass eventually setting up his own sheep farm in Timaru before retiring to Brisbane. We compared photos – our full colour, all singing and dancing present day and his mostly black and white grainy snapshots – important documentation of a bygone age in the South Island.
It was a welcome relief to stay in a family home – especially one as welcoming as Andrew and Jodies – after the impersonal hotel rooms before. We slept like logs in our boutique style room, ate like kings, and even had resident young Chinese students to keep us entertained during our stay and not a predator was seen – not by me – long-suffering did see a cane toad but I don’t think he counts!
All too soon it was time to leave for the next stage of our journey … Whitsundays beckoned ………
The Creative Muse 