Home again, home again?

Thursday 11th July was another recovery and getting up to date day. I checked out the local area, and Marie took me and her brother Michael to 'the best Vietnamese restaurant in Brisbane' for dinner! The following morning I took another trip into the centre of town, checking out the West End on foot and making my way over to South Bank to have lunch with Mark (the first person I had stayed with in Brisbane) before he headed back up to Cairns for another 6 weeks of work!

Metal pelicans - you don't get them in London

On Saturday Marie took me to Sunnybank to sample yum cha, or morning tea. In this huge restaurant an assortment of dishes were brought around on trolleys, offering an amazing selection from which to choose! Pretty full up after this we continued walking around the local shopping centre and enjoyed some icecream in the winter sunshine. I also sampled the Dark 'N' Stormy cocktail, made using 'local' Bundaberg rum and ginger beer.

Yum Cha

Sunday morning I attended Marie's local church service before we travelled (just) out of Brisbane to meet Ros for lunch at a pub overlooking Redland Bay. I then returned to the centre of town to catch up with Geordie friend Anna, who I had met in Cairns and also bumped into in Airlie Beach, during her brief stay in Brisbane.

Marie and Ros at Redland Bay

The next day I finally saw Toby, from London, who had been travelling round Australia for a couple of weeks with his girlfriend Rachael. We went to Lone Pine Koala sanctuary with a couple of Rachael's friends where there was an abundance of native wildlife to behold. Activities included koala hugging (they reek of eucalyptus) and kangaroo and lorikeet feeding, and I made my first platypus and Tasmanian devil sightings!

Toby and Rachael