Our 8 little babies arrived safe and sound today. The post office called while the boys and I were at the feed store buying some chick food. I was surprised to hear the message when we got home since the chicks weren't scheduled to arrive until Wednesday. Of course, I hadn't gotten the brooder set up yet.
The boys and I quickly set up a temporary box for the chicks to have warmth, water and food and then dashed to the post office to get them. You could hear the peeping as soon as they carried the box out. They peeped all the way home and seemed relieved to get out of the tiny box and into a slightly bigger box with some food and water. I then started work on the brooder.
The babies need 95 degree temps during their first week with temps decreasing 5 degrees a week until age 5 weeks, so a heat lamp is needed. Check.
The chicks will need 2 sq ft per chick when they get a little older. Check. Sorta.
The sides of the brooder need to be at least 12 inches, though higher is better. Check.
Chicken wire. check.
Feeder. check.
waterer. check.
roost. check.
bedding. check.
I set up the bottom half of our largest dog crate out in the corner of the garage. I covered the open end with chicken wire and the top half of the crate, set on its end. I placed a bar across the top of the crate and hung the light from it. I filled it will 1 1/2 inches of bedding, added the food and water and baby chicks. It looked pretty good.
Then I had to add the chicken wire roof so that they wouldn't fly out. It's not really easy to attach the chicken wire and it is all asunder. It's just a mess and it's ugly, but completely functional, which is all that matters.
I will be sure to post more news later, but for now, I am going to play with some chicks!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Sick and tired
Part way through the day yesterday, my body temp went from being too low to too high. I was running a fever of about 101 yesterday evening and my throat started hurting. I still had a fever and massively sore throat this morning so I called my doctor and made an appointment. One of my other neighbors watched the boys while I went to the doctor and then to fill my prescription. They did a quick strep test which usually takes about 5 minutes to give a result. Mine came back positive in less than a minute! They also ran a test for mono which came back negative (thank goodness!). They ran the mono test because I am so tired that I was falling asleep in the waiting room (where I had to wait for 35 minutes!) and in the exam room. I think I was just so tired because I could sleep well last night. My throat hurt and it was making me thirsty. I would want so water, but that required me to get out of bed which then made me feel cold (because of the fever) then I had a hard time getting back to sleep because I was cold.
I have antibotics and should be feeling better in a couple of days. A friend brought me a meal for tonight so at least I don't have to worry about that. Strep and staph apparently go hand in hand and the doctor thinks Tommy probably touched my toothbrush with his infected finger. Our toothbrushes are all stored together so it would be hard for him to touch mine by accident.
The half bath has the ceiling painted, but hasn't gotten any farther. I was just too tired to do anything else. Perhaps tomorrow I will feel up to painting.
I mostly communicate with Jay through email, though he is unable to check it every day. It had been a few days and he checked it overnight (he is 14 hours ahead of me). He wrote me a wonderful email that said that I didn't have to work on any more projects, that they could all just wait. Of course, part of the reason that we don't have to work on anything quickly is because we won't be buying the house that we loved...
Joe had several green days in a row at school, but had a yellow yesterday. Today he brought home a red! He got kicked out of music class and gym today and was on red by lunch time. He spent half of his recess with the principal! Joe told his teacher that he was acting up because his dad is gone. Mrs. Maxwell wrote a long note home today.
Tommy didn't get to go to school today as his finger is still draining. He didn't mind since he got to play at our neighbor's house while I went to the doctor.
Jay's email also updated his work in Australia. The most recent flight tests did not go well at all. He is still scheduled to arrive home on May 5th so far. We are keeping our fingers crossed!
I have antibotics and should be feeling better in a couple of days. A friend brought me a meal for tonight so at least I don't have to worry about that. Strep and staph apparently go hand in hand and the doctor thinks Tommy probably touched my toothbrush with his infected finger. Our toothbrushes are all stored together so it would be hard for him to touch mine by accident.
The half bath has the ceiling painted, but hasn't gotten any farther. I was just too tired to do anything else. Perhaps tomorrow I will feel up to painting.
I mostly communicate with Jay through email, though he is unable to check it every day. It had been a few days and he checked it overnight (he is 14 hours ahead of me). He wrote me a wonderful email that said that I didn't have to work on any more projects, that they could all just wait. Of course, part of the reason that we don't have to work on anything quickly is because we won't be buying the house that we loved...
Joe had several green days in a row at school, but had a yellow yesterday. Today he brought home a red! He got kicked out of music class and gym today and was on red by lunch time. He spent half of his recess with the principal! Joe told his teacher that he was acting up because his dad is gone. Mrs. Maxwell wrote a long note home today.
Tommy didn't get to go to school today as his finger is still draining. He didn't mind since he got to play at our neighbor's house while I went to the doctor.
Jay's email also updated his work in Australia. The most recent flight tests did not go well at all. He is still scheduled to arrive home on May 5th so far. We are keeping our fingers crossed!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Seriously, I am tired of this
It seems like everyday I email Jay more problems or bad news. I am sure that he is not happy reading it, as there is nothing he can do to help me.
Yesterday, we tried to have the septic pumped. What Jay and I thought was the cleanout is not. It took the nice man and I about 15 minutes to find where it was. The last (and stupid) owners put in the new tank in early 2002 and promptly planted a tree right on top of the lid!! We can't clean it out without moving or destroying the tree. Oh, and there's a robin with eggs nesting in that same tree.
I got to stand in the rain for about 30 minutes yesterday while all this was going on. I came inside to find that Sammy had been productive. He was trying to clean out the fridge. Unfortunately, there was a huge 6 lb package of ground beef from BJ's in there. I had opened it and removed 1 lb, rewrapped it (with the plan of dividing and freezing after the septic man left), and placed it back in the fridge. Sammy took it out of the fridge and then left the dogs out of my bedroom. The dogs ate about 4 lbs of it. I think that they just got full or would have eaten the last pound as well. They were still sort of guarding it when I came it. Well, that was about 15 dollars worth of meat gone.
Shortly after all that, I started getting really sick. Vomitting and diaherra. It was non-stop and painful. Then I started shaking because I was so cold. We still have no heat so our house is a bit cool. I already suffer from low body temp (my usual is about 96.8). I took my temp and it had dropped to 95.7! No wonder I was freezing! I took a really hot bath and laid in bed. Sammy, thank goodness, had gone down for a nap and was giving me a slight break. The big boys were building with the knex and also had excellent behavior.
Tommy came to me at about 7:30 and told me that his finger hurt. It was hugely swollen and completely white! I got a neighbor to watch the other two boys and I took Tommy to Nighttime Pediatrics. It turns out that he had a splinter in his finger. It was so small, that we couldn't even see it without magnification. He had picked up (somehow) a staph infection in his finger. The splinter was removed and the would was drained. He is still highly contagious until it stops draining. We also have antibotics and an antibotic cream. yeah.
I am feeling slightly better this morning, just weak and freezing. I can't seem to get my body temp above 96 for very long.
The biggest reason I have this is due to my thyroid. I could probably benefit from a higher dose. The problem is that the last time we tried a higher dose, I felt great for about 3 weeks and then felt completely wired and my heart would not stop racing. Once we lowered my dose again, the heart problem stopped and I didn't feel wired anymore.
I am ready for Jay to be home. We have just under 2 weeks to go!
Yesterday, we tried to have the septic pumped. What Jay and I thought was the cleanout is not. It took the nice man and I about 15 minutes to find where it was. The last (and stupid) owners put in the new tank in early 2002 and promptly planted a tree right on top of the lid!! We can't clean it out without moving or destroying the tree. Oh, and there's a robin with eggs nesting in that same tree.
I got to stand in the rain for about 30 minutes yesterday while all this was going on. I came inside to find that Sammy had been productive. He was trying to clean out the fridge. Unfortunately, there was a huge 6 lb package of ground beef from BJ's in there. I had opened it and removed 1 lb, rewrapped it (with the plan of dividing and freezing after the septic man left), and placed it back in the fridge. Sammy took it out of the fridge and then left the dogs out of my bedroom. The dogs ate about 4 lbs of it. I think that they just got full or would have eaten the last pound as well. They were still sort of guarding it when I came it. Well, that was about 15 dollars worth of meat gone.
Shortly after all that, I started getting really sick. Vomitting and diaherra. It was non-stop and painful. Then I started shaking because I was so cold. We still have no heat so our house is a bit cool. I already suffer from low body temp (my usual is about 96.8). I took my temp and it had dropped to 95.7! No wonder I was freezing! I took a really hot bath and laid in bed. Sammy, thank goodness, had gone down for a nap and was giving me a slight break. The big boys were building with the knex and also had excellent behavior.
Tommy came to me at about 7:30 and told me that his finger hurt. It was hugely swollen and completely white! I got a neighbor to watch the other two boys and I took Tommy to Nighttime Pediatrics. It turns out that he had a splinter in his finger. It was so small, that we couldn't even see it without magnification. He had picked up (somehow) a staph infection in his finger. The splinter was removed and the would was drained. He is still highly contagious until it stops draining. We also have antibotics and an antibotic cream. yeah.
I am feeling slightly better this morning, just weak and freezing. I can't seem to get my body temp above 96 for very long.
The biggest reason I have this is due to my thyroid. I could probably benefit from a higher dose. The problem is that the last time we tried a higher dose, I felt great for about 3 weeks and then felt completely wired and my heart would not stop racing. Once we lowered my dose again, the heart problem stopped and I didn't feel wired anymore.
I am ready for Jay to be home. We have just under 2 weeks to go!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Well that sucks
Well, I found out this evening that our dream house is gone. A non-contengent contract was offered and accepted. I am crushed. I was upset when I thought it was gone the first time, but there was still some hope, but I have to say that there is none now.
The news really took all the steam out of me. I had really been going great on the house. I was going to paint the half-bath today, but I loss all energy and drank a pitcher of margaritas instead. Yea, I know. Not the smartest thing. I haven't drank anything in a while. I didn't drink anything for a while before my trip and then I didn't drink while I was in Australia.
I had a tasty meal this evening delivered by my friend Jenny. The boys didn't like the rice, but enjoyed the chicken.
On the plus side, I got the deck most of the way screwed down. Jay (for some reason) only put about half the screws in the deck when he put the decking on. He then went back and put about another 1/4 in. I worked this evening (before the bad news) on putting the screws in. Of course, i ran out with about 15 screws to go. I guess that means that I will just have to make yet another run to the hardware store. I seem to be making daily trips there.
I pulled a toilet all by myself yesterday. I am very proud that I handled the whole thing by myself.
I can't wait until Jay gets home. We have about 2 weeks to go. His project has done about 3 flights so far. The first went well, but the second didn't go so well. The third is flying tonight. Hopefully, it goes well.
The news really took all the steam out of me. I had really been going great on the house. I was going to paint the half-bath today, but I loss all energy and drank a pitcher of margaritas instead. Yea, I know. Not the smartest thing. I haven't drank anything in a while. I didn't drink anything for a while before my trip and then I didn't drink while I was in Australia.
I had a tasty meal this evening delivered by my friend Jenny. The boys didn't like the rice, but enjoyed the chicken.
On the plus side, I got the deck most of the way screwed down. Jay (for some reason) only put about half the screws in the deck when he put the decking on. He then went back and put about another 1/4 in. I worked this evening (before the bad news) on putting the screws in. Of course, i ran out with about 15 screws to go. I guess that means that I will just have to make yet another run to the hardware store. I seem to be making daily trips there.
I pulled a toilet all by myself yesterday. I am very proud that I handled the whole thing by myself.
I can't wait until Jay gets home. We have about 2 weeks to go. His project has done about 3 flights so far. The first went well, but the second didn't go so well. The third is flying tonight. Hopefully, it goes well.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Just getting by
Currently, right now, that's all I feel like I am doing...just getting by. I just have too much on my mind, too much to do, and too much stress. Jay being out of town is not helping anything either. I have no one to fall back on and I can't leave the house without a babysitter or taking the kids with me. We ran out of milk the other night, but I couldn't just leave to get some since it was almost bedtime. So the boys had to have juice with their breakfast, which they didn't mind.
All three kids seem to be acting out more. Maybe I am just more sensative because I am tired and stressed. If I try to correct Joe's behavior, he will start crying and say that he's not following the rules because Daddy's isn't home. It is almost like he is using it against me because then I feel bad that he misses his dad and there is nothing I can do. We have just over 2 weeks to go until the magic day. Of course, Jay's time in Darwin could be extended and then he won't be home until about May 17th. I am not sure that I could handle that. Unfortunately, he won't know anything until much much closer to the actual date. It will be based on how to project is going. If things are going really really well, then he may even get to come home a couple of days earlier. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the earlier date so that perhaps he will get to go to Day Out With Thomas with the rest of us. Otherwise, I have 1 extra ticket.
I promised myself that I would go to bed early tonight. I hope that I get to sleep and stay asleep until morning. So, I am off to bed!
All three kids seem to be acting out more. Maybe I am just more sensative because I am tired and stressed. If I try to correct Joe's behavior, he will start crying and say that he's not following the rules because Daddy's isn't home. It is almost like he is using it against me because then I feel bad that he misses his dad and there is nothing I can do. We have just over 2 weeks to go until the magic day. Of course, Jay's time in Darwin could be extended and then he won't be home until about May 17th. I am not sure that I could handle that. Unfortunately, he won't know anything until much much closer to the actual date. It will be based on how to project is going. If things are going really really well, then he may even get to come home a couple of days earlier. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the earlier date so that perhaps he will get to go to Day Out With Thomas with the rest of us. Otherwise, I have 1 extra ticket.
I promised myself that I would go to bed early tonight. I hope that I get to sleep and stay asleep until morning. So, I am off to bed!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter
The Easter bunny was worried about wet grass so she hid the eggs in the basement while the kids were sleeping. The kids each had 10 plastic eggs with their names on them to find. The kids got out of bed at 6:52, looked through their Easter baskets, and then we lined up and headed downstairs. We were back upstairs, finished with the egg hunt by 7:06. We opened the eggs and the boys had candy, stickers, and coins. We ate breakfast, emailed Jay a happy Easter and drove to my mom's house for Easter. The boys got another bucket, more candy and another egg hunt. This time the hunt was for hard boiled eggs and loose candy.
After lunch, we decorated the boys' bicycles with balloons, streamers and ribbons for the Long Boat Estates First Ever Easter Parade. The boys had so much fun riding their bikes like that. Little Sam decided once the parade started that he was going to learn to pedal so he wouldn't push his trike along like normal. He wanted to pedal. He was so far behind that my dad ended up picking him up and cutting through some lawns to catch up as we made the circle. We had a nice Easter dinner of Cajun pulled pork, potato salad, baked beans, egg salad, and rolls. All in all, not a bad day.
I have not been sleeping well ever since I have gotten back. I usually head to bed around 11:30-12, toss and turn and then get about 4 hours of sleep before I wake up or a kid wakes me up. I had a hard time driving back tonight from my mom's because I was really tired. I think I may actually get to sleep early tonight. We'll see.
On a really possible great note, I emailed our realtor on Friday just to touch base with him about the house. He has been watching its listing for us. He had been trying to get ahold of the listing agent ever since the listing agent said an offer was going on the house. Anyway, the listing is still active!! That means there is not a contract on the house currently! Yeah!!!! Our realtor has called the listing agent again so we'll see, but I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed!
After lunch, we decorated the boys' bicycles with balloons, streamers and ribbons for the Long Boat Estates First Ever Easter Parade. The boys had so much fun riding their bikes like that. Little Sam decided once the parade started that he was going to learn to pedal so he wouldn't push his trike along like normal. He wanted to pedal. He was so far behind that my dad ended up picking him up and cutting through some lawns to catch up as we made the circle. We had a nice Easter dinner of Cajun pulled pork, potato salad, baked beans, egg salad, and rolls. All in all, not a bad day.
I have not been sleeping well ever since I have gotten back. I usually head to bed around 11:30-12, toss and turn and then get about 4 hours of sleep before I wake up or a kid wakes me up. I had a hard time driving back tonight from my mom's because I was really tired. I think I may actually get to sleep early tonight. We'll see.
On a really possible great note, I emailed our realtor on Friday just to touch base with him about the house. He has been watching its listing for us. He had been trying to get ahold of the listing agent ever since the listing agent said an offer was going on the house. Anyway, the listing is still active!! That means there is not a contract on the house currently! Yeah!!!! Our realtor has called the listing agent again so we'll see, but I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
My trip highlights
Tuesday:
I arrived in Brisbane on at about lunch time. Jay was able to meet me at the airport gate since the security measures are more relaxed in Australia. My right ear never popped on the descent into Brisbane and was in a whole lot of pain. We rode the transit train back to Brisbane and walked four blocks to the hotel. Our hotel was located pretty close to downtown Brisbane. The weather was beautiful! Sunny and warm. Brisbane is a really nice city with lots of development happening. We ate lunch at a restaurant that is right on the boardwalk for the river. I discovered two things about eating in Australia pretty quickly. 1) Drinks like water and soda are served in 8 oz servings and refills are not free 2) they stack their food, meaning that if you order a steak and chips (fries), the steak comes out on top of the fries. These two things held true for every place that we ate for our entire trip.
After lunch we walked the boardwalk along the river down to the Botanical Gardens. This place was huge and beautiful. It was very lush and free to the public. There were many paths and trails as well as the boardwalk and the mangrove walk.
We headed back to the hotel after walking through the downtown of Brisbane. We watched a little tv and then fell asleep long before even dinner time!
Wednesday:
Since we fell asleep so early the night before, we were wide awake at about 4:30 in the morning. We sat around watching tv until about 6:30 so that we could go to breakfast. I had eggs, bacon, sausage and beans. Aussies are very big fans of serving roasted tomatoes with their eggs as well as beans cooked in a spiced tomato paste. I didn't really like the eggs. I ordered them scrambled and they were very runny. I also did not like the sausage as it contains some lamb. I don't like lamb at all. The taste is just too strong.
We then took a river city cruise that took us up river for about an hour and dropped us at a historic house that is a museum. We toured the museum and then found a great lunch. We then re-boarded the boat and went back down river. After the cruise, we rode the Wheel of Brisbane, a 60 meter tall ferris wheel on the South Bank of Brisbane.
I learned a few more things on Wednesday. Since it is a sub-tropic area, all the restaurants do a whole lot of outdoor eating. Stores even have storefronts that open completely to take in the wonderful weather. There isn't a mosquito problem in Brisbane. There are mosquitoes in Australia, just not in Brisbane. The Brisbane River is a salt water river. It does not have crocodiles as it is too cold, but it does have a bull shark problem. A few people a year (usually tourists) get attacked by sharks.
Since the river can't be used for swimming, the city of Brisbane made a man-made beach and swimming area next to the river. In an area called South Bank, there is a boardwalk, then a nice green area, and the a huge swimming pool with a beach attached to it. The pool is made to look like a natural water feature, but is a concrete pool. One side gets gradually shallower until it hits the sand. It's just like the beach, but with chlorine!
The weather was still beautiful. The temp had been well over 80 so I bought two pairs of shorts at the Myer department store since I hadn't packed any. I changed into shorts and we did a bit more walking and then went back to the hotel. We ended up sleeping early again.
Thursday:
We woke up and discovered that despite Brisbane suffering from the worst drought in 100 years, it was pouring and was very windy. My ear still hurt very badly despite having taken some pain meds and and some decongestant. We found a medical clinic that was close by and made an appointment. We arrive 10 minutes early to our appointment. We ended up having to wait 80 minutes! I was not pleased at all. My medical insurance is no good in Australia since they have a socialized medical system. My appointment costed me $108 and the medicine was an additional $97. The doctor said that I had fluid in my inner ear (yup!) along with pressure trama to my eardrum. I also had signs of an infection starting.
The weather really put a damper on our plans so we just hung at the hotel all day. We actually made it to dinner that night since we went with Dave. Dave is a native Australian, though not from Brisbane. He is working on the same project that Jay is. He has spent a lot of time in Brisbane. He travels a whole lot with his work. He has also lived in Maryland for a few years (2002-2006). He took us to a great Mongolian BBQ place. It was really tasty!
Friday:
More rain. It stopped after breakfast and we booked a boat cruise to go in the opposite direction than our previous cruise. This cruise was also longer. As soon as we got started on the cruise, it started pouring rain. We left the top deck of the boat and couldn't see much from the bottom deck through the rain on the windows. The cruise took us to Lone Pine Koala Sanctury. The rain stopped about 5 minutes from the park The park holds about 130 koalas as well as kangaroos and other australia wildlife (a few snakes, birds, and wambats). I got to cuddle a koala (for an additional fee) and we both got to pet kangaroos. It was just starting to sprinkle when we reboarded the boat 2 hours later. Thankfully the rain only lasted a few minutes and was just a light sprinkle. We enjoyed our cruise back to the city. We ate very late lunch walked around a bit. We headed back to the hotel and ended up asleep before dinner again. I woke up from my nap around 8 and saw that it was raining. I decided that I wasn't very hungry and went back to sleep.
Saturday:
Rain before and during breakfast. We actually had two breakfasts this morning. We walked all the way downtown to where we had eaten lunch the day before. The breakfast took forever to get to the table and by the time it arrived, my scrambled eggs were cold. I couldn't eat them. Jay complained and the manager compted my meal and Jay's. He offered to remake, but I said no. Jay finished eating and we walked 3 blocks and sat down at a different place so that I could get something to eat. Service was extremely slow, but the food was good.
After breakfast, the rain stopped and Dave picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is very famous for its surfing. The ocean was very rough and swimming wasn't allowed anywhere, but that didn't stop the surfers. I learned a lot more about Australians and heard how most Australians view the U.S. Dave arrived in States about 6 months after 9-11. He said that it was great that everyone was so patriotic, but he felt very unwelcome and very much an outsider. Dave said that the attitude did gradually change, but at first, it was very uncomfortable for him and his family to be here. Dave (and his family) love squirrels! They have no squirrels in Australia and thought they were awesome. Dave also liked the fact we paint yellow lines in the center of our road. Aussies drive like Brits with the steering wheel on the right side of the car and drive on the left side of the road. Dave said it was very easy to figure out where to be on our road, just had to have the yellow line on the left of the car.
We ate ice cream in Surfers Paradise (from a Baskin Robbins!). We drove a whole lot up and down the Gold Coast. Dave explained that the state of Queensland is very much in love with America and likes American things. Out of all the Aussie states, Queensland has the most American restaurants, McDonalds, Sizzler, KFC, Starbucks and Hungry Jacks (Burger King). Most places also played American music (rock from the late 80's mostly). TV is also almost all American sitcoms. News programs and sports are the only Australian shows we saw. Some beaches are also named for US beaches like Miami and Palm Beach. Jay and I ate our first meat pie. Food pies are a huge deal in Australia. Any bakery serves them and that are filled with just about anything you can imagine. They have whole restraurants that serve nothing but these little pies. I had a steak and potato pie and Jay had steak and kidney. Jay didn't really like his. He said it was just the whole concept, but I think it was the kidney :) Mine was good. We later stopped for coffee at a McDonalds. Aussie are very serious about their coffees. I had tried a few here and there, but found them all to be too strong and bitter-even with sugar and milk. Dave suggested going to McDonalds because they served a milder coffee. The McDonalds in Australia all have a McCafe attached to them. The McCafe serves higher end coffees and pastries. I had a vanilla latte and finally was able to make it through a cup of coffee. Serving sizes are much smaller in Australia for pretty much all drinks. A large there is the same size as a medium here. It started raining again after dark and we ate dinner in a seafood pub outside of Brisbane. We then headed back to the hotel. I was really running out of clothes, but the coin op laundry was already closed.
Sunday:
First order of business after breakfast was laundry. The coin op was about 6 blocks away so we loaded our clothes into a suitcase and got ready to leave. I was out of clean underwear and short sleeve shirts and of course it was warm and sunny in the morning. As we were leaving the hotel, I asked Jay if we should get change at the hotel desk. Jay said no, that there would be a change machine. I suggested we just get it now, but he said no. I had to AU money so I couldn't get change. We walked 6 blocks dragging a suitcase. The laundry didn't have a change machine and Jay only had a $50 anyway. No place was open because it was only 7:30. We ended up having to walk all the way back to the hotel where I got change at the desk, then walked 6 blocks back to the laundry. We did laundry and I had brought a book. I had asked Jay before we left if he wanted a book, but he said no. He then was bummed that I didn't bring a deck of cards. Jeez.
After we finished laundry, the sky started clouding over and looking like rain. We went to the train station trying to go to the Australia Zoo. We found out that in order to go we had to catch the 8 am train. Of course it was about 11:30. We went for a walk, looking for lunch. We didn't want to eat at the same places we had been eating at, so we walked a different direction on the river walk. Well, it was a bad choice. There was just nothing there. We walked forward and reached a residential area. From there we grabbed a water taxi back towards the city. We decided to go to the South Bank area since it has a lot of restaurants. Jay and I both just wanted a burger or something simple. All we could find was fancier places or ethnic food. We wandered around in the rain for a while and finally found a place called Beastie Burgers. They had really good burgers and we had our first Australia milkshakes. I had an Expresso Shake. It was tasty, but not really like an American shake. They were very thin, much more like frothy milk. We then walked back to the hotel and just called it a day. We were tired and wet and just done.
Monday:
We got up early and grabbed breakfast at McDonald's at the train station. The McDonald's in Australia don't have bisquits. They have breakfast rolls instead. Strange. Our train arrived about 10 minutes late and then was about 15 minutes waiting in a tunnel because there was a "slight" derailment on a different train on the track north of where we were. That made it only 1 track available instead of two. Jay and I both decided that I am just bad luck. If I hadn't decided to go to the Zoo that day, then there would have been no delays. The Australia Zoo was a lot of fun. The weather held for most of the day for us to get through the Zoo. It was probably the nicest Zoo we had ever seen. There were so many crocodiles there. All of them had a story behind them and how they were trouble crocs before Steve Irwin caught them. There was also a really nice memorial set up to honor Steve. We watched a wild animal show that was really cool. They brought in several birds that flew right over our heads. They also fed a really big croc named Shaka. He was a 15 ft fella who got used to being fed by fisherman that he tried to climb into a tourist boat. It was really amazing to see him be fed. The Australia Zoo has three Asian elephants. The Zoo is very interactive and allows people to get up close to the animals (the safe animals). At the Elephant inclosure, vistors get about 6 ft from the elephants. It was amazing to see them that close and watch how the keepers interact with them. In the tiger enclosure, there were three keepers just lounging around about 4 feet from the tigers. They were braver than I would be with 6 tigers. After a long train ride back, Jay and I went back to the hotel so that he could try to call and get my flight fixed. I had called many many times to no avail. He finally got it all squared away so we headed out for dinner. We had a nice dinner and then I packed.
Tuesday:
Jay and I took the train to the airport. We had a hard time getting me checked in because the employee was trying to be helpful. Finally got all booked in and just in time to board the plane for Sydney. 31 hours after I left the hotel in Brisbane, I finally arrived in Baltimore. I lucked out and my bag was one of the first off the plane and I caught the shuttle bus almost right away. I drove Jay's car home and was happy to be here. I had a great trip despite some bumps.
I arrived in Brisbane on at about lunch time. Jay was able to meet me at the airport gate since the security measures are more relaxed in Australia. My right ear never popped on the descent into Brisbane and was in a whole lot of pain. We rode the transit train back to Brisbane and walked four blocks to the hotel. Our hotel was located pretty close to downtown Brisbane. The weather was beautiful! Sunny and warm. Brisbane is a really nice city with lots of development happening. We ate lunch at a restaurant that is right on the boardwalk for the river. I discovered two things about eating in Australia pretty quickly. 1) Drinks like water and soda are served in 8 oz servings and refills are not free 2) they stack their food, meaning that if you order a steak and chips (fries), the steak comes out on top of the fries. These two things held true for every place that we ate for our entire trip.
After lunch we walked the boardwalk along the river down to the Botanical Gardens. This place was huge and beautiful. It was very lush and free to the public. There were many paths and trails as well as the boardwalk and the mangrove walk.
We headed back to the hotel after walking through the downtown of Brisbane. We watched a little tv and then fell asleep long before even dinner time!
Wednesday:
Since we fell asleep so early the night before, we were wide awake at about 4:30 in the morning. We sat around watching tv until about 6:30 so that we could go to breakfast. I had eggs, bacon, sausage and beans. Aussies are very big fans of serving roasted tomatoes with their eggs as well as beans cooked in a spiced tomato paste. I didn't really like the eggs. I ordered them scrambled and they were very runny. I also did not like the sausage as it contains some lamb. I don't like lamb at all. The taste is just too strong.
We then took a river city cruise that took us up river for about an hour and dropped us at a historic house that is a museum. We toured the museum and then found a great lunch. We then re-boarded the boat and went back down river. After the cruise, we rode the Wheel of Brisbane, a 60 meter tall ferris wheel on the South Bank of Brisbane.
I learned a few more things on Wednesday. Since it is a sub-tropic area, all the restaurants do a whole lot of outdoor eating. Stores even have storefronts that open completely to take in the wonderful weather. There isn't a mosquito problem in Brisbane. There are mosquitoes in Australia, just not in Brisbane. The Brisbane River is a salt water river. It does not have crocodiles as it is too cold, but it does have a bull shark problem. A few people a year (usually tourists) get attacked by sharks.
Since the river can't be used for swimming, the city of Brisbane made a man-made beach and swimming area next to the river. In an area called South Bank, there is a boardwalk, then a nice green area, and the a huge swimming pool with a beach attached to it. The pool is made to look like a natural water feature, but is a concrete pool. One side gets gradually shallower until it hits the sand. It's just like the beach, but with chlorine!
The weather was still beautiful. The temp had been well over 80 so I bought two pairs of shorts at the Myer department store since I hadn't packed any. I changed into shorts and we did a bit more walking and then went back to the hotel. We ended up sleeping early again.
Thursday:
We woke up and discovered that despite Brisbane suffering from the worst drought in 100 years, it was pouring and was very windy. My ear still hurt very badly despite having taken some pain meds and and some decongestant. We found a medical clinic that was close by and made an appointment. We arrive 10 minutes early to our appointment. We ended up having to wait 80 minutes! I was not pleased at all. My medical insurance is no good in Australia since they have a socialized medical system. My appointment costed me $108 and the medicine was an additional $97. The doctor said that I had fluid in my inner ear (yup!) along with pressure trama to my eardrum. I also had signs of an infection starting.
The weather really put a damper on our plans so we just hung at the hotel all day. We actually made it to dinner that night since we went with Dave. Dave is a native Australian, though not from Brisbane. He is working on the same project that Jay is. He has spent a lot of time in Brisbane. He travels a whole lot with his work. He has also lived in Maryland for a few years (2002-2006). He took us to a great Mongolian BBQ place. It was really tasty!
Friday:
More rain. It stopped after breakfast and we booked a boat cruise to go in the opposite direction than our previous cruise. This cruise was also longer. As soon as we got started on the cruise, it started pouring rain. We left the top deck of the boat and couldn't see much from the bottom deck through the rain on the windows. The cruise took us to Lone Pine Koala Sanctury. The rain stopped about 5 minutes from the park The park holds about 130 koalas as well as kangaroos and other australia wildlife (a few snakes, birds, and wambats). I got to cuddle a koala (for an additional fee) and we both got to pet kangaroos. It was just starting to sprinkle when we reboarded the boat 2 hours later. Thankfully the rain only lasted a few minutes and was just a light sprinkle. We enjoyed our cruise back to the city. We ate very late lunch walked around a bit. We headed back to the hotel and ended up asleep before dinner again. I woke up from my nap around 8 and saw that it was raining. I decided that I wasn't very hungry and went back to sleep.
Saturday:
Rain before and during breakfast. We actually had two breakfasts this morning. We walked all the way downtown to where we had eaten lunch the day before. The breakfast took forever to get to the table and by the time it arrived, my scrambled eggs were cold. I couldn't eat them. Jay complained and the manager compted my meal and Jay's. He offered to remake, but I said no. Jay finished eating and we walked 3 blocks and sat down at a different place so that I could get something to eat. Service was extremely slow, but the food was good.
After breakfast, the rain stopped and Dave picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is very famous for its surfing. The ocean was very rough and swimming wasn't allowed anywhere, but that didn't stop the surfers. I learned a lot more about Australians and heard how most Australians view the U.S. Dave arrived in States about 6 months after 9-11. He said that it was great that everyone was so patriotic, but he felt very unwelcome and very much an outsider. Dave said that the attitude did gradually change, but at first, it was very uncomfortable for him and his family to be here. Dave (and his family) love squirrels! They have no squirrels in Australia and thought they were awesome. Dave also liked the fact we paint yellow lines in the center of our road. Aussies drive like Brits with the steering wheel on the right side of the car and drive on the left side of the road. Dave said it was very easy to figure out where to be on our road, just had to have the yellow line on the left of the car.
We ate ice cream in Surfers Paradise (from a Baskin Robbins!). We drove a whole lot up and down the Gold Coast. Dave explained that the state of Queensland is very much in love with America and likes American things. Out of all the Aussie states, Queensland has the most American restaurants, McDonalds, Sizzler, KFC, Starbucks and Hungry Jacks (Burger King). Most places also played American music (rock from the late 80's mostly). TV is also almost all American sitcoms. News programs and sports are the only Australian shows we saw. Some beaches are also named for US beaches like Miami and Palm Beach. Jay and I ate our first meat pie. Food pies are a huge deal in Australia. Any bakery serves them and that are filled with just about anything you can imagine. They have whole restraurants that serve nothing but these little pies. I had a steak and potato pie and Jay had steak and kidney. Jay didn't really like his. He said it was just the whole concept, but I think it was the kidney :) Mine was good. We later stopped for coffee at a McDonalds. Aussie are very serious about their coffees. I had tried a few here and there, but found them all to be too strong and bitter-even with sugar and milk. Dave suggested going to McDonalds because they served a milder coffee. The McDonalds in Australia all have a McCafe attached to them. The McCafe serves higher end coffees and pastries. I had a vanilla latte and finally was able to make it through a cup of coffee. Serving sizes are much smaller in Australia for pretty much all drinks. A large there is the same size as a medium here. It started raining again after dark and we ate dinner in a seafood pub outside of Brisbane. We then headed back to the hotel. I was really running out of clothes, but the coin op laundry was already closed.
Sunday:
First order of business after breakfast was laundry. The coin op was about 6 blocks away so we loaded our clothes into a suitcase and got ready to leave. I was out of clean underwear and short sleeve shirts and of course it was warm and sunny in the morning. As we were leaving the hotel, I asked Jay if we should get change at the hotel desk. Jay said no, that there would be a change machine. I suggested we just get it now, but he said no. I had to AU money so I couldn't get change. We walked 6 blocks dragging a suitcase. The laundry didn't have a change machine and Jay only had a $50 anyway. No place was open because it was only 7:30. We ended up having to walk all the way back to the hotel where I got change at the desk, then walked 6 blocks back to the laundry. We did laundry and I had brought a book. I had asked Jay before we left if he wanted a book, but he said no. He then was bummed that I didn't bring a deck of cards. Jeez.
After we finished laundry, the sky started clouding over and looking like rain. We went to the train station trying to go to the Australia Zoo. We found out that in order to go we had to catch the 8 am train. Of course it was about 11:30. We went for a walk, looking for lunch. We didn't want to eat at the same places we had been eating at, so we walked a different direction on the river walk. Well, it was a bad choice. There was just nothing there. We walked forward and reached a residential area. From there we grabbed a water taxi back towards the city. We decided to go to the South Bank area since it has a lot of restaurants. Jay and I both just wanted a burger or something simple. All we could find was fancier places or ethnic food. We wandered around in the rain for a while and finally found a place called Beastie Burgers. They had really good burgers and we had our first Australia milkshakes. I had an Expresso Shake. It was tasty, but not really like an American shake. They were very thin, much more like frothy milk. We then walked back to the hotel and just called it a day. We were tired and wet and just done.
Monday:
We got up early and grabbed breakfast at McDonald's at the train station. The McDonald's in Australia don't have bisquits. They have breakfast rolls instead. Strange. Our train arrived about 10 minutes late and then was about 15 minutes waiting in a tunnel because there was a "slight" derailment on a different train on the track north of where we were. That made it only 1 track available instead of two. Jay and I both decided that I am just bad luck. If I hadn't decided to go to the Zoo that day, then there would have been no delays. The Australia Zoo was a lot of fun. The weather held for most of the day for us to get through the Zoo. It was probably the nicest Zoo we had ever seen. There were so many crocodiles there. All of them had a story behind them and how they were trouble crocs before Steve Irwin caught them. There was also a really nice memorial set up to honor Steve. We watched a wild animal show that was really cool. They brought in several birds that flew right over our heads. They also fed a really big croc named Shaka. He was a 15 ft fella who got used to being fed by fisherman that he tried to climb into a tourist boat. It was really amazing to see him be fed. The Australia Zoo has three Asian elephants. The Zoo is very interactive and allows people to get up close to the animals (the safe animals). At the Elephant inclosure, vistors get about 6 ft from the elephants. It was amazing to see them that close and watch how the keepers interact with them. In the tiger enclosure, there were three keepers just lounging around about 4 feet from the tigers. They were braver than I would be with 6 tigers. After a long train ride back, Jay and I went back to the hotel so that he could try to call and get my flight fixed. I had called many many times to no avail. He finally got it all squared away so we headed out for dinner. We had a nice dinner and then I packed.
Tuesday:
Jay and I took the train to the airport. We had a hard time getting me checked in because the employee was trying to be helpful. Finally got all booked in and just in time to board the plane for Sydney. 31 hours after I left the hotel in Brisbane, I finally arrived in Baltimore. I lucked out and my bag was one of the first off the plane and I caught the shuttle bus almost right away. I drove Jay's car home and was happy to be here. I had a great trip despite some bumps.
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