|
| 12 midnight |
Train travel can be romantic in movies, but it sort of sucks if
you're trying to sit (at least mostly) upright for what would turn
out to be 11 1/2 hours on the train + 3 hours in the bus. Yucky. |
| 12:07am |
We stopped for a total of 13 minutes, apparently to let another
train go the other direction. Curious. |
| 12:42am |
And a second stop for 10 minutes, again, apparently to get another
train go past. |
| 2:06am |
We stopped in Coffs Harbour, where Tegan got off the train, and
an older couple took those seats. Man, if Thom wakes up and tries
to make goo-goo eyes with them, I swear I'll take pictures. Double-pinky
promise. |
| 3:24am |
The train stopped in Grafton City for four minutes to take on a
few more passengers. And if you're wondering how we know all this,
yes, we're still awake. It seems Tubby can't sleep, and without his
Care Bears nightlight, he can't stay awake in the dark alone. |
| 3:37am |
The quietly heaving mass of flab means that Tubby has fallen asleep.
Yessss! (I'll try to catch a few winks as soon as I get a bowl of
warm water to put his hand into.) |
| 5:34am |
Short-lived, the stops of the train have jarred us all awake. Super. |
| 7:33am |
We arrive in Roma Street station here in Brisbane. (That's pronounced
Bris-bin if you don't want to sound like an American
who's dead-set in pronouncing every letter.) |
| 7:37am |
There's a bit of commotion when the luggage finishes being unloaded,
and a lot of it -- basically everyone from the bus -- can't find theirs.
Perhaps I alone heard the message about which luggage was where, as
it was unloaded in two places. (Once a conductor sent us to the alternate
location, all was well.) |
| 7:42am |
We went down this escalator thingy, but I found the proper name
of it is apparently a
travelator. |
| 7:51am |
Dennis met us for the (again) brief trip to the hotel. |
| 7:57am |
More or less, we arrived at the Ibis Brisbane. (More or less in
that a large touring coach is blocking the entrance, so we're parked
halfway up an alley leading to the place.) Dennis grabbed us a luggage
trolley, helped us load up, and he bid us farewell and good luck. |
| 8:02am |
Successfully checked in, but Kasey informed us that the hotel was
completely booked last night, so none of today's departures have yet
left, so the room isn't ready. She suggested we check back at 2pm,
and led us to the luggage storage area. (I couldn't really get too
upset with her, either, because (a) it's not her fault, and (b) she's
left-handed.) |
| 8:28am |
With a map under one wing and a AU$50 bill under my other wing (yes,
I realize it would be funnier to have that bill in my bill), we hit
the streets to kill some time. I first stopped outside the museum
to be photographed
with a few locals. |
| 8:41am |
We passed by what was proclaimed to be Grand
Central station, but for a city of 1.6 million people, I would
have expected it to be a little grand-er. |
| 9:01am |
Walking about the little farmer's market/craft area, I took a picture
of the Story
Bridge, designed by the same chap who designed the Sydney Harbour
Bridge. (I did not, however, take pictures of the crafts, because
baskets of strawberries and all-natural soaps just don't appeal to
me; sorry.) |
| 9:32am |
We found ourselves in City Botanic Gardens, which is ending the
Queensland Week celebrations today with a Picnic in the Park. Lots
of rides, but not much else yet... although, it's still early. |
| 9:41am |
Seeking the
breakfast fit for any American school kid, I gathered myself up
a tub of cotton candy and a Diet Coke (two great tastes that taste
great together). I was in sugar heaven. |
| 9:56am |
Okay, I know I'm going to get mail on this one, but why is The Paraplegic
& Quadriplegic Association raffling off a
car? Isn't that just a twist of cruel irony? (And we are trying
to promote health and awareness, why is the able-bodied guy selling
the tickets chain-smoking?) |
| 10:23am |
Perplexed, we left and found ourselves at Myer Centre, a six-level
shopping complex, with a cinema on the top floor. Naturally, we had
to check it out and see what's showing. |
| 10:49am |
Mission accomplished, and we've found our low brain-activity afternoon
outing - 2 movies. Rachel is off to the latest Harry Potter epic,
and we're going to see Thunderstruck, an Aussie film. I'm hoping it's
less than the AU$14 per adult, since I am treating Tubby this time,
but I fear that won't be the case... and the cotton candy and Diet
Coke cut into my $50 to the tune of $11.60 already. (More annoying
is that left me with $3.40 in coins, and I don't have pockets... inconvenient.) |
| 10:54am |
We hit the museum in King George Square, which is now open, and
free. Inside on one side is a photographic history of World War I,
the other some modern stuff. We wandered around a bit, but the
outside was most lovely, I thought. |
| 12:02pm |
Pushing the envelope of what "2pm" means, we checked with
the desk, and Lana assured us that our room, 422, was ready for us.
We were given keys and shuttled ourselves upstairs. |
| 2:05pm |
Indeed this is a glorious time. Everyone has showered (or bathed
in the sink filled with water and a mild soapy froth), and is ready
to hit the streets for an afternoon at the cinema. |
| 3:16pm |
And the street-hitting actually occurred. (First, Tubby had some
stuff to do on the computer, and Rachel had phone calls to make. I
just mostly sat and ate the balance of the Ritz crackers and suffered
through a Diet Coke. Ugh; why couldn't this be a Pepsi-only place?) |
| 3:31pm |
We arrived for the first film, Harry Potter, about 10 minutes before
it started. The line outside suggested no one else was going to join
the queue AND get a good seat to this showing. Phooey. |
| 3:48pm |
After wandering about, we opted to suffer through a dinner from
the food court, and both go see Thunderstruck
at 4:45pm. |
| 4:29pm |
We each shelled out the AU$14 for the film, and waited about until
the theatre was ready. |
| 4:37pm |
And we're in and seated. The film started promptly, and was actually
quite funny. (It's an Aussie-made film, of four mates who drive from
Sydney to Perth (4,100 km or so) to bury the ashes of their dead friend,
Ronny, who made up their little AC/DC-inspired band when they were
all 18 years old or so. |
| 6:41pm |
The film ended, and we headed back, stopping to give this
place a look. It looked all historic and important and stuff...
but it turned out to be Conrad Treasury Casino. Go figure. |
| 6:44pm |
We popped into a 7-11 and grabbed some Pepsi Max -- basically, it's
sugar-free Pepsi, but not diet. (So, it's also not 1 calorie per 12
ounces, but since I can't convert joules into calories, presuming
they're not on a 1:1 ratio, I'm not going to try.) |
| 7:02pm |
A stop at the receptionist's desk about notions for getting to the
Australian Zoo on the outskirts of town met with some general befuddlement,
and a vague suggestion to check online (which is the next order of
business, after another reboot due to the slow internet connection
speed problem). But owing to tomorrow being a holiday, it could be
interest. We know the zoo is open, and public transportation runs
on a holiday schedule, but if we need to arrange alternate plans,
well, it's a crap shoot. |
| 8:16pm |
We found that the QR (Queensland Rail) site isn't dial-up friendly,
and whilst we did find the times of the train we needed, the "Fare"
cost in the upper right was blank. So much for user-friendly. The
thought is worst-case, we'll get to the train station, find it's horribly
expensive, and find a suitable Plan B. |
| 8:44pm |
Tubby got caught up on mail, and I penned some notes for one of
my side projects, although it's nearing the final stages of a draft,
over which I'm quite pleased with myself. |
| 10:39pm |
Nighty-night time. And some tinkering on the laptop seems to have
halted that mysterious clogging of our dial-up connection speeds...
and just in time, considering these days, we're at 28.8Kbps. Ugh. |
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