Roma Street Parkland

Kelsey and I spent a few hours at Roma Street Parkland last week. We had a snack at the Melange Cafe there and then wandered around the Spectacle Garden, Forest, the lake area, Arid Plants, FernGully and generally just enjoyed all the beauty. The plant in the first photo has been in bloom since April and shows no signs of slowing down.

Lots of photos of Kelsey because she was the only person with me.

Aren't they gorgeous? I've never seen Poinsettias in a garden...well, up until now.

Not exactly a kangaroo you can pet, but cute anyway.

The Spectacle Garden. It was breathtaking.

There were several water features throughout the park.

The park has only been open since 2001.

July 12th-Abbey Medieval Festival and Tournament

Beautiful stained glass from the 1300s in the church.

Lord Benjamin.

Waiting for the Turkish Oil Wrestling to start. Hairy men cover themselves in extra virgin olive oil and then end up covered in grass by the end of the match. Not sexy but still fun to watch.

Kelsey thinks I look stupid in my hat. But, guess which one of us stood in the shade all day while the other was miserably hot?

It was a gorgeous sunny day.

Last weekend was the Abbey Medieval Festival and Tournament in Caboolture. I feel like my entire life is made up of running to catch some form of public transport. Everytime we walk out the door, I'm saying, "Hurry, hurry, we're going to miss the bus (or train or boat)". On this particular day, guess what? We did. We missed our ferry which made us late for our train. If we had missed the train, we would have had to wait an hour which meant we would have missed the opening ceremony and probably wouldn't have gotten tickets for the joust. I try to not get bent out of shape when we are running late since it happens all the time. I'd spend most of my life upset but I really, really wanted to see the joust and I really, really wanted to get there for the opening ceremony. We were walking as fast as we could because honestly, running wasn't even an option with my bad ankle. I imagine we looked rather funny. Speed walking into the train station, I made a wild guess at which train was the right one and led us to Platform 6 just as the train pulled in. We hopped on. Then I looked at Ben and said, "Should we ask someone if we're on the right train?" He did and we were, so off we went for the hour long train ride to Caboolture. Kelsey listened to her ipod, Ben napped on and off, Benji slept almost the whole way while I had the pleasure of listening to a couple of college students who were very intelligent. I could tell because they knew EVERYTHING, especially about America. Many of the train stations along the way have interesting and/or lovely murals. It's one of the nice little things about Brisbane that make it such a beautiful city....just that little extra effort to make the train station pretty:)

The festival itself was huge. Tickets to the joust were purchased first thing and we did get to see the opening ceremony so I was as happy as a clam. Kelsey immediately started complaining about the heat while I basked in it. My feet were warm for the first time in weeks. The Hare Krishnas were there with their vegetarian food stand. Bless them! When we go to any festival and see them, Kelsey and I know right away that we're going to have decent reasonably priced food...and more than we can finish on our plate. Benji enjoyed the military weapon demos,watching warriors battle, and a public flogging (he was just a bystander, not the one being flogged, of course.) Kelsey and I spent some time watching dances and she went to a presentation on "Surgery in the Middle Ages". Ben and I went to listen to the lecture on the stained glass windows in the gothic church on the grounds of the festival. We were tempted by camel rides but ultimately decided against it. The joust was a lot of fun and everyone at the festival seemed to really be enjoying their characters. We ended up staying until the closing ceremony then had to "run" to catch our train back to the city...we hurried as fast as we could to the platform, jumped on the train and then sat on it for 20 minutes waiting for it to leave.

Friday

One quick post before the weekend...

Wednesday was my mammogram and ultrasound. Today was my follow-up appointment with the doctor. I had to leave the house at 8am to catch an 8:15 bus to get to my 9am appt and arrived 20 minutes early. Oh well, that's the price we pay for public transportation;-) Glorious, wonderful news- No biopsy, just show up again in six mos. for an ultrasound to watch a fibroid adenoma that they found. My knees were weak with relief.

I stopped by IGA on my way home. I knew they delivered but I didn't know the fee. Turns out it's only $5.00. What a bargain! I promptly loaded up the grocery cart with all kinds of heavy stuff. I paid almost $20 for a watermelon. Don't be shocked. It's for medicinal purposes. Okay, FINE, it's for mental health purposes. I'm gonna lose my mind if I don't get some decent watermelon soon. Sadly, this was not the decent watermelon I was hoping for....this one wasn't ripe at all and will be going straight into the trash. But, I don't have breast cancer so if that watermelon is the worst thing to happen to me this week, then "Praise God".

The more progress I make on the unpacking, the messier it seems to get in here. All our stuff is multiplying when I'm not looking. And where did all that laundry come from? I blame it on Kelsey. She was off from work this week so we spent an inordinate amount of time at Borders. Breakfast tea and magazines anyone? Why, yes, we'd love to! Magazines from the states cost $15 or more here. Australian magazines can cost as little as $6.95. Luckily, for the price of my cup of tea, I can read as many of them as I want right there in the cafe. That makes me happy.

My iPhone is my new best friend. That's all I need to say about it. But, I'll say more. I LOVE it and I've only begun to scratch the surface of what that little thing can do. I won't mention that I was ready to throw it at the wall today after fiddling around with trying to set up my iTunes account for over 40 minutes. The problem? It would not accept my phone number. The area code here is 07 or 04. It insisted on a three digit area code. I called the store we got it from and he suggested a few different ideas until we hit upon....just rearrange the numbers so that it looks like an American phone number. It was strange since the phone asked me where I was located and I said "Australia". I prefer my technology to work without my having to put any actual thought into it, thank you very much.

I miss my mom terribly. She's sick right now and I wish I was there to help her. Though realistically, there's absolutely nothing I can do to fix anything there. The phone rang this evening at 8pm and my heart skipped a beat. Thank God it was a telemarketer and not bad news from the States.

By Monday, it's supposed to be 75 degrees. I will be doing a celebratory dance in the afternoon if anyone would like to join me. Too bad I don't have a tambourine.

Vinnies is a resale shop here similar to Goodwill but significantly more expensive. Kelsey and I popped into one of the shops the other day and found several things. I found several really cute tops...very bohemian....and they ranged in price from $9 to $15. Thrift Score!!!! Woohoo! Then we popped into Tree of Life one afternoon. Their prices are really good compared to most of the places here and I found 3 adorable dresses and one smokin' hot shirt. http://www.treeoflife.com.au/
Yes, I'm aware that I went in there looking for winter clothes and walked out with a sundress and a short sleeved shirt. It WILL eventually be summer here so don't judge me. I know I've been very cold lately and been complaining a lot. But, I promise, I'll get out the hot water bottle, fill it up and crawl up under a quilt. Really, I can get by with the same freakin' winter shirts I've been wearing for weeks since I only bought new summer tops to bring with me to Brisbane. Now I shall stop whinging about my boring winter wardrobe and move on....

It's almost a full moon tonight and the way it shines on the river is breathtaking.

Hopefully, we'll go some where this weekend worth photographing and I'll be able to post some photos next week. I know we'll be going to the Farmer's Market but beyond that....who knows.

Vodka and Naked Fruit

One day last week, Kelsey's co-workers brought vodka to work. They used the fruit and blenders there to make drinks and promptly got drunk. Kelsey was left to do the work while they all hid in the back sipping their cocktails. They left a lot of stuff undone and when the afternoon girl came in, she and Kelsey were able to bond over their frustration with the extra burden. So, it wasn't all bad. Kelsey said that this particular girl was finally being friendly now which makes the atmosphere there a bit more bearable. She almost has enough money saved for her airline ticket and her camp fees are paid so she's getting really close to her goal now.

Just a few random things that are either bugging me or I feel deserve a mention because they are so absurd.

Last night, I threw a few things in the dryer...on high heat....set the timer for 30 minutes. When Ben got up this morning at about 8am, the dryer was still going. Wonder what our electric bill will be?

The dishwasher has a cool rack for plates. The plates from the rental company fit so nicely. Ours don't....they have to go on the other side of the dishwasher. It messes up the idea of fitting an evenings worth of dishes in there. Plus it bugs me.

The kitchen sink is small. I spill water on the floor every single day when I clean the juicer. You'd think I'd learn.

The water in the shower goes from comfortable to boiling to cold with almost no warning. I fear that one day I'm going to throw myself through the glass walls of the shower trying to save my skin. The water gets seriously hot. I can run water over tomoatoes in the kitchen and then easily slip off the skins after just a few moments. One night I was thawing out some hamburger meat using water straight from the faucet. Not only did it thaw, it cooked.

We got our first phone bill. For your flat monthly rate, apparently you get nothing. (Well, I suppose you get local calls to phones that are not mobiles). Now, brace yourself....for every call, there is a connection fee. On top of that there is a per minute charged that is based on the type of phone you are calling. If you are calling a Telstra mobile, it's a bit cheaper than calling a non-Telstra mobile. But, there are caps on how much they will charge unless it's a non-Telstra mobile. You only get a certain number of phone calls to home phones included in your montly fee....then they also incur additional fees. What I just typed there doesn't even begin to explain all the charges and exceptions. It gives me a headache. Thank God the cable tv system is pretty straightforward. Though they can't seem to get my tv guide here on time. Nobody's perfect. I love our DVR. I suppose recording the shows means we're missing some of the funny Australian Commercials. Some of them aren't so funny though. They take their anti-smoking campaign very seriously here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rSrrSTW0UU Warning, that video is gross.

We went to Borders last night to hang out in the cafe. Here it's a Gloria Jeans instead of a Seattle's Best. The store was much larger than I originally thought...three stories instead of two. I missed my old job until I saw someone shelving books, then I got over it really quick.

Today has been a day of unpacking boxes and doing laundry. The apartment is starting to resemble a home rather than a warehouse full of boxes and random crap laying all over the place. I can't wait until we're finished.