Monday 5 March 2018

Brisbane Trip Day 17: Brisbane

We were all up by around 7am today (after our restful day yesterday). I'm surprised too that I am sleeping really well - that is quite unusual for me! We all got ready - the other kids to go to dancing, and we were going to visit a friend who I met when I lived in Canada. We've seen each other a few times since we both got back to Australia, but not since my wedding, 15 years ago!

We got to my friend's house at 9am and immediately felt welcome and comfortable. We had a cup of tea, ham and cheese croissants, and scrolls for breakfast. Delicious and very relaxed. My kids and her youngest went and had a swim in the back yard while we chatted as if we'd not had such a long break.  Her husband was in and out of the conversation, checking on the kids and watching the V8s. The kids came back inside and played some other games, jumped on the trampoline for a while and then they all played with her son's Mip robot, racing it around an obstacle course they set up with shoes and bags. It was a lot of fun. I had a wonderful morning and our 3 hours there passed so quickly.

They were going out at midday so we said goodbye and headed off. We drove up to Redcliffe to meet our host friends. It was about an hour from my Canada friend's house - I'd been given good directions by my host friend's husband, and I enjoyed driving around parts of Brisbane I hadn't seen in a while, or never seen at all. We drove over a very long bridge as we got close, that was pretty cool. At Redcliffe we drove around the carpark for the swimming area a few times until we found a spot, then went and met our friends.

There's a large manmade lagoon near the shore at Redcliffe, which is where we swam. The kids all swam around for a while and I cooled off then sat and chatted to my friend. The kids all played some games in the water and were in and out. My friend went to pick up one of her kids who was at a birthday party, and the rest of us went in the water again. The kids retrieved a hat from a drain at the edge of the pool - it was a huge team effort and they were very proud (and Amelie happy to have a new hat). They sat on each other's shoulders and wrestled, and worked on the flipping trick I taught my kids at SeaWorld Resort. The boys and Amelie went over to the park and I sat and chatted to the older girls for a while. Liam and one of his friends went to explore the rocks now that the tide had gone out, and the other boy took Amelie to the kids pool. When my friend came back the older girls cooked some sausages on the BBQ and the rest of us swam. The water was fairly warm but it was refreshing. There were clouds coming over (a possible storm was forecast) and one of the clouds was in the exact shape of the Starship Enterprise!

Once the sausages were ready we hopped out and ate them (the kids devoured them so quickly!) and the kids went back in the water. My friend and I sat and chatted until some of the kids were keen to leave. The 3 older girls wanted to stay - so I took the 3 boys and Amelie and my friend followed a bit later with the girls. It started raining as we were leaving, and we hit very heavy rain as we crossed the long bridge. There was a lot of lightning around as well. I drove pretty slowly because of the rain and low visibility. I was pleased that I pretty much knew my way back, I'm feeling more and more confident about my directions around Brisbane. I'd downloaded a heap of music on to my phone and was able to listen to that while I was driving, it was very enjoyable. The boys started the trip playing Terraria and Amelie was playing something else - gradually the car became quieter and Amelie told me that all the boys were asleep (it was 7pm). She drifted off herself not long before we arrived home - so it was a very quiet trip. They all woke as we stopped at the house, and came inside to watch tv. We watched Big Momma's House 2 and despite the naps everyone was still pretty tired. All the adults were in bed by 10.30 (or earlier) and the kids seemed to head to bed soon after that.

No comments:

Post a Comment