Friday 9 March 2018

Brisbane Trip Day 21: Brisbane

It was another quiet morning at home. The kids gradually woke from their various beds (they all seem to have settled into their own spot, after all the bed switching over the first few nights). I spent some time on the computer and then curled up on the couch with my iPad, then we watched some movies as the kids emerged - Chasing Liberty, and When We First Met. We started I, Robot then people kept getting distracted so we paused it for later. Lots more chatting, making and eating dehydrated food, cups of tea, Roblox, Minecraft, playing with the kittens. I transferred Caitlin's phone to a new plan so she has unlimited calls - will make contacting her friends (and us) a lot easier.

In the afternoon the older girls were going to dancing. I felt like going out as well so was keen to take the boys to a river or lake or somewhere and have my friend meet us there with Caitlin. No one wanted to go and I was tempted to talk them into it, when one of the girls suggested I take them to dancing. This worked for everyone - all the other kids were able to stay home, my friend had a night off the drive to dancing, and I got to go out and explore.

We left around 2pm (I took her car because we were picking up some other girls and there wasn't really room for people I didn't know in my messy car). I love talking to these girls, they are interesting and informed and curious. We picked up the other girls and I dropped them all at dancing and then I had about 3 hours to do whatever I liked. I kept driving along the road that dancing was on and found an information centre. I popped in and said I had 3 hours to kill, what kind of things were there to do and they looked at me like that was the hardest question they'd ever been asked. They suggested a couple of picnic areas but warned me that they might be a bit isolated and creepy at this time of day. We had a bit of a chat and they gave me a map. I wandered a little around the park where I was (Pine River) - the playground was amazing - and wanted to go down to the river but it seemed to be blocked by a DiscGolf course. I drove further north towards Petrie and saw a BCF, so went in to buy a replacement cord for my car fridge (it's only been 2 weeks since it stopped working...). I drove up to the river, traffic was heavy but flowing. The first park I went to didn't feel inviting, so I drove over to the other side of the river. There was a guy standing in a gazebo and I felt uncomfortable walking past him so I walked the other way, under the railway line and alongside a football field. There were occasional places to stop and look at the river, some cool mangroves and 2 bridges to walk under. It did feel isolated so I didn't linger - I did take some cool photos though. The river wasn't super pretty, it was nice though.

I headed back down the road to a big shopping centre (Strathpine). I wandered around for a while, browsed a book shop, then realised I needed to eat. I had a chicken burrito from Zambreros which was delicious. I was heading to Aldi to buy a cheap drink when I walked past a massage place -they did a 20 minute foot massage for $25 and my feet have been SO sore on this trip - so I treated myself and it was amazing. So relaxing and nurturing, I'm so glad I did it. Walking felt much easier afterwards, and I was quite relaxed and happy. I browsed in Aldi, bought and ice coffee, wandered around a bit more and went to Big W to get more charging cables for our devices. It was nearly time to get the girls so I went back to the car (and could now play my music because I could charge my phone and not risk running out of battery). On the way back I stopped at an electrical store to try to find a charging cable for our multi-USB box, they didn't have what I needed but had some suggestions for me to try. I arrived at dancing and read in the car until the girls came out. We had another great chat on the way home.

Back at the house I joined my friend in the bedroom watching tv again and the girls all ended up with us as well, talking about our days and lots of other things. We watched The Revenant while we talked (and played with kittens) - it got pretty intense, certainly not a relaxing movie but so well made and acted. The boys were still playing Roblox and the girls wandered off to watch various things on Netflix (Caitlin and one of the girls are watching Brooklyn 9-9, the other has been watching Married At First Sight). Amelie and I went to bed and she watched youtube videos for a while and I played on my iPad until I was ready to sleep.

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