Brisbane Briefly

I arrived Brisbane (aka BrisVegas to many) on a Sunday afternoon and decided to spend the night there. (I had originally planned to go south to Byron Bay and spend time in Brisbane on the way back north again.) Since it was a late decision, I didn't book my hostel until I was on the train from the airport. I knew I wasn't going to be there more than a few days so purposely chose one that was close to the transit center. After getting obtuse directions from the hostel and clearer directions from my guidebook, I headed off with my ever increasing luggage. (How is this? I've bought a hat, a t-shirt and a pair of sunglasses over the course of 7 weeks and tossed out a lot of items, yet only gets harder to close my bag...) I walked and walked and walked and dragged my bag up some stairs and walked by an outdoor bar that was loud and packed and having fun and walked some more. Giving up, I called the hostel for directions from my current location. (Having a local cell phone has been SOOO fantastic on this trip. How did we get by 10 years ago?) Following the hostel's directions, I headed back in the direction I had come but still couldn't find it. A woman offered help, but didn't know the hostel nor the street. She did know one of the landmarks that was supposedly near it, and pointed me in that direction. After another 10 minutes of walking, I ended up back at the transit center. Aurghgh! I had purposely planned to stay in a hostel that required little walking and now was completely defeating that purpose. I turned around again and eventually found the hostel. Why had it taken me so long to find? The hostel had told me to go down the main street and turn left on Cricket Street. Unfortunately, there is no sign for Cricket Street. You just have to know that it's one street after Jessie Street, apparently. So that pretty much took up my first afternoon in Brisbane. I suppose I can't complain too much since that's the first time I've had anything of that frustration level happen to me in 7 weeks, which is a pretty good ratio.

Speaking of frustration (or lack of it), I've found this trip to be a real lesson in how or body changes when we're not stressed out all the time. I sleep better, think better and look better. I think I've put on make-up three times in 7 weeks. Sometimes because it just seems to much trouble to find my make-up bag, but mostly because I just look better when I'm not sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer chewing my fingernails off. Imagine that!

The first night in Brisbane I had dinner at the Kookaburra Cafe and have not been able to get that darn children's song out of my head since. I didn't even know I stillknew the words! "Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he, laugh kookaburra laugh kookaburra, gay your life must be." Try having that stuck in your head for days at a time and not feeling ridiculous.

I only spent one full day in Brisbane, but it was quite interesting (and a lesson in extremes!). More in the next post...