Sunday 14 May 2006

Brisbane 2006

From my previous messages you will be aware that I have been seconded to Brisbane for work, and have been working here since 3 April. My contract is until the end of August.

The first weekend I went to the Riverside Markets, and also had a look at the Valley markets while waiting for Darryl to arrive. I have been doing a lot of walking - much more than in Rocky. I have been walking to work, at Royal Brisbane Hospital, every day, and Darryl walks me home in the afternoon. It takes about 1/2 an hour. It doesn't matter if I have a problem as I only have to walk to Upper Edward St (12 mins) along Boundary St to get the free bus for hospital workers (goes every 20 mins). It stops right outside the 'Spring Hill Hotel'.


We have had a couple of great weekends. For the weekend just before Anzac Day, I took the Monday off. On Saturday I went to do some family history research and then on Sunday went to the Stitches and Craft Expo at Southbank with Sue and her Mum (who had come down from Hervey Bay with a busload of friends). It is something I have wanted to go to for a while, and had even been thinking of making a special trip down here, so it was great to get a chance to go. I walked over and then got the train home with Sue.

Then on Monday, Darryl and I headed down to O'Reilly's at Lamington National Park. It was very nice there, lovely and green, although the road going up was 'very' narrow - one-way in a lot of places, so every time there was another vehicle coming you had to pull over. We even saw one car having to back down as a coach was coming down the mountain! It was lovely at the top, and we took some lovely film and photos from the lookouts. We could even see Mt Warning. 

We walked to Moran's Falls (the first photo), and Darryl also went to Python Rock. It was very cold camping at the National Park at the top. In the morning we went on a long walk (about 10km) to a couple waterfalls - Elabana Falls and the really beautiful Box Log Falls (See the photo with Darryl). This part of the park has some really huge Brown Box trees - they estimate about 2000 years old (see the photo with me).


Coming back was on the public holiday, and it was amazing - about lunch time the car park at O'Reilly's was already full, with about 10 cars circling for parks (and no-where else to to park) and there would easily have been another 40 coming up the mountain! On the way home we drove up through Mount Tamborine, where there are several National Parks. We ate lunch at the top, where they launch Hang gliders - but I think the wind was the wrong way as none were there to take off.

Easter weekend we firstly went up north of Kilcoy to near Jimna, to Landcruiser Mountain Park. It was for a big 4-wheel drive competition. There was even a team from our club in Rockhampton who came down. Apparently they rolled two of the four cars in their team. We spent 2 days there taking lots of film of the different competitions - things like hill drags, mud races, rock-crawling, and gymkhana. We left there late (about 4.30pm) yesterday and headed south to the D'Aguilar Range. We drove through some rough country and it was dark (about 6.30pm) by the time we got to the Neurum Creek Camping area. Luckily there was a spare spot (I think that shower earlier had frightened off some people) and we set up the truck, had dinner and were in bed by 8.30pm! It rained during the night, but that doesn't worry us in our setup. 

This morning we packed up after Darryl had set up a hot shower for us (as the park didn't have showers). We then went for a short walk at the campground - Lophostemon Walk. Driving south through the park we stopped at many walks - Falls Lookout, Piccabean Walk at the Gantry (with very nice Piccabean Palms - but a not-so-nice leech decided it liked my leg!), Maiala Circuit at Mt Glorious, Westridge Lookout, Jolly's Lookout near Mt Nebo (you could see the Glasshouse Mountains from here), and Camp Mountain Lookout which even had views of Brisbane. 

During the week I had project training and one of the other participants was Christine Armit - who is a relative of Darryl's (her grandfather is the brother of Pearl's father), and also Frank Krista - brother of Joe, who was my Grade 11 & 12 Biol teacher! He told me that Joe has been living in China for many years - teaching English.


6 May - We went on a cycle in the morning...along the boardwalk to the botanic gardens then across the Goodwill Bridge to Southbank and then back along the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and across the Storey Bridge. Then I went out to a meeting regarding the family history program I use, and at lunch time we cycled over to Southbank to see the festival - Budda's Birthday. The whole place was absolutely packed, and there was really nice food (although I couldn't eat a lot of it). One interesting display we saw was some children from a Martial Arts school, doing their kata and mock fights with swords and poles. They were very good.

7 May - We cycled to Toowong Cemetery. There was a tour being conducted (as it turned out by Moyea's sister - she used to work with me at Concept Training), and then we cycled back to Southbank for a late lunch. At night I went to the Status Quo/ Deep Purple concert with Sue, Sharon, and Margaret.The concert was fantastic! I really can't believe that I have seen them.

This week I was in ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) training, for 2 1/2 days. It was pretty interesting, especially as it pertains to the project I am currently working on in Brisbane, and I now have a much better understanding of the whole thing!

13 May - I had a great day at the Qld State Archives. I took my bike on the train and then rode from Fruitgrove Station to the archives in Compton Rd - it wasn't a very nice ride as the road is busy and not made for bikes. There wasn't even a walking path! I spent a lot of time looking at probate and divorce files - the probates have death certificates in them and the divorce ones have marriage certificates.  As I was allowed to photograph them (as long as I didn't use the flash) I was able to get over $600 worth of certificates for the cost of my train trip there ($5)! As you can imagine I am really chuffed! It is really good, especially as the death certificates give children and normally you can't buy these unless you are a direct descendant! Also, some of the wills and probates actually name grandchildren.

14 May - Not so good a day today. I had planned to go to work, so that I could get in some extra time, as I have a big deadline at the end of May, but woke up not feeling well, so instead I just stayed at home and slept for most of the day. I feel a lot better now, so will be fine to go to work tomorrow. Darryl went for a ride to try and find the James St markets, but didn't find the ones we think are there. I had some really great entertainment tonight, as I was sitting out on the verandah, some sporty car went through the lights and sped up the hill making heaps of noise. I was just thinking the usual...where are the police when you want them...then next minute an unmarked police car went into pursuit mode!





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