June 1st, Brisbane

Fish ...I had it for lunch

Tom takes good pictures of flowers

Our walkway in the South Bank Parklands

This morning when I woke up at 4:50AM I thought I would be going on a rainforest tour for the day....was at the appointed stop and everything at 7am and found out it was cancelled. While I waited around I did meet a nice gal from England that was traveling around. I was bummed. The tour guide felt really bad because he called the house but by then I was already on the train into Brisbane. He had a separate tour bus and he even drove me straight back to the house...nice not to take the train. He was a really nice guy with kids Ben and Aaron's age so we chatted about traveling and he gave me some good tips about visiting Sydney, which is coming up in 2 days. My day of adventure started really early and I was back by 8:30AM when everyone was just getting up. I did a bunch of dishes....wow, 13 people in the kitchen getting food leaves a mess (especially with lots of teenage boys).  Amy was making pancakes, yum yum!  After that good 2nd breakfast I went back to my room and did a bunch of stuff on the laptop...checking out our hotel in Sydney, looking up tours and Skyping with family. Before I knew it the morning was gone. Luckily Tom wanted to get out too so we took the train to a stop we usually just pass through and went for a very very long walk. We basically followed the river...I think 5-6 miles. My legs hurt tonight!  In between we stopped for lunch at a sidewalk cafe. I had fish, and it was a whole one. It tasted great but was a lot of work to eat with bones and skin on it. It was fun to eat in a bit nicer cafe. The walk was beautiful. When you walk you see different types of things....what kind of trees are growing, what plants are recovering from the big flood they had in January. Plus parts of the trail were brand new because of the flood. When our feet were all tired out (at least mine where, I think Tom could have kept going) we rode the citicat ferry back to the downtown area. It is so easy! We stopped for a little snack of Gelato (love that green apple flavor) and took the train (in rush hour once again) back to Indooroopilly. Back at Amy and Gene's house I rested a bit then helped Amy get left-overs ready and did some more dishes. Cleaning up at someone elses house is always so much better than at my house! I started to watch a movie with Brook and Megan (the cousins from Alaska ages 8 and 11) but was getting too tired. I came downstairs and realized I better write here before I get too worn out. I finished my good book today and am ready to watch a movie or something. I sure miss my family now and the normalcy of every day life. I can't wait to hug my kids and hubby and be hugged. No pictures today!