Malcolm (Tenai's roommate) dropped me off at Central Station five minutes before I was supposed to meet Mio. With an 18kg backpack on my back, a 7kg bag on my front, and a shopping bag in my hand, I waddled up two flights of stairs, along some long corridors, up some more stairs, and over to the McDonalds where we were supposed to meet. Looking very vulnerable and uncertain, I'm sure, I circled the McDonalds, looked around for an ulterior entrance, and finally took a seat on a stool. A few minutes later, I saw Mio walking towards me, her face familiar from our Facebook conversations. She said we had 4 minutes to catch our train so we rushed to the ticket booth, spent a ridiculous $5.30 on my ticket, then sped down some more stairs to the platform. Our train was waiting there so we stepped on board and took off towards Shorncliffe.
Mio and I chatted a little, but I was quite out of it; in need of a shower and some sleep. I did enjoy watching the interesting trees and houses speed by, as well as the graffitied industrial areas full of smoke stacks and tin roofs. We were forced to get off the train one station early as they said there were some malfunctions on the track ahead. Luckily, a bus driver volunteered to take the train passengers the rest of the way for free! This was totally off his regular route, so we were extra grateful. Off at the station, we walked two minutes down the road to Mio's 90-year-old house.
After a quick tour, Mio kindly left me to shower and crash into bed. She had prepared her bedroom for me (angel that she is) and took the spare bedroom (with no door) for herself. At 6:00pm Brisbane time (1:00am Vic) I fell into bed and knew nothing of the world until the birds started chirping at 3:45. From then on, I tossed and turned, sleeping fitfully until 6:45 when I gave up on dreams and picked up my computer instead.
In the morning, Mio and I ate a quick breakfast, then hurried to catch the train into town. Mio had uni in the morning, but she left early so she would have time to show me around a bit. From Central Station, we walked through the pedestrian Queen St. Mall, full of stores as varied as Versace ($500/shirt) and Valley Girl ($5/shirt), with banks, restaurants, and cellphone stores in between. From there, we walked across a courtyard with a library on one side in a geometric modern building and a casino on the other in a building that looked more suited to be an olden times courthouse or expensive hotel. Then, across a bridge (must remember to look to the right before crossing the street, not the left), to the Southbank bus station. Southbank is Brisbane's jewel. It has undergone a massive facelift since I was last here and is now one of the most beautiful and inviting places to take a walk and spend an afternoon. There are museums, performing arts centres, cafes + restaurants, wonderful paths along the Brisbane river, and lots of places to do some free outdoor bbqing and picnics. There are trees and plants growing everywhere, alive with exotic birds (at least, exotic to me: ibis and magpie), lizards, geckos, iguanas, tons of bugs, and wonderfully colourful/fragrant flowers. I left Mio at the bus station and went for a walk on my own.
The rest of the day was spent leisurely walking about, taking pictures and enjoying the wonderful sun that had finally broken through the heavy grey clouds that had hovered over the city since the day before. The air was humid, causing my shirt to stick to my back and my hair to be an inconvenient veil of heat. I walked along Southbank, across the pedestrian bridge, through Brisbane's botanical gardens, then up the road to Woolworths, where I purchased the ingredients to make a sandwich for lunch. After enjoying that delicious meal, I walked back up to the Queen St. Mall, where I opened an Australian bank account and acquired a cellphone. One amazing thing about Australia is that the area code for phones is the same throughout the continent, so I can use this phone anywhere without getting long-distance charges! I'm really impressed by that, and I wish Canada could improve their terrible cellphone service to better resemble this one. For $30/month I get 3000 texts, 100 minutes, unlimited e-mail/facebook access, and $30 credit towards anything else I might like (such as sending "I love you" texts to my boy back home).
Feeling quite accomplished and more than a little tired, I made my way back to Central Station at around 3:00 and took the train back to Shorncliffe. I met Mio on the platform (turns out we were on the same train) and we walked back home.
The rest of the night contained some computing, grocery shopping, cooking a delicious curry dinner with Mio, watching tv, and going to bed at 8:30.
My first day in Brisbane was absolutely lovely and I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of these 6 1/2 months!
Lots of love and wishes of happiness for everyone back home! I miss you!
xoxo - Katrina
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