Qld Trip #3 - May 2006

Thursday 11th May

• Left work 15 minutes early to the airport for the 1905 flight from Melbourne to Brisbane. The meal on the plane was a beef Mince Penne and the penne was extremely dry and the meat not so tasty, but the white wine was great though. Arrived in Brisbane 2110. It was nice and warm. I took my jacket off and didn’t put it on for the rest of the night.

Friday 12th May

• Slept in this morning. Breakfast was puffed wheat, sultanas, cashew nuts, raspberries and milk and a latte frappe drink.
• We headed over to my grandfathers house in Meadow Street, Eight Mile Plains. We had lunch once we arrived, which was oriental fried rice with smoked ham. Desert was lemon custard slice, which was scrumptious.
• After lunch mum & grandad puddled around in the house, while I made a couple of phone calls and addressed the back have about 55 envelopes for grandfather.
• Picked up Alex at Riverview, had dinner at Goodna RSL. I had ordered Beef Lasagne with chips and vegies. Originally my order and Alex’s order came out incorrectly so I ended up with more chips than I was probably supposed to have. The lasagne was a little overcooked but quite nice nonetheless.
• Back at my parent’s house, Ian & I watched the City Country match and the movie “Sweet Home Alabama”, whilst mother & Alex made chains in the sewing room. The game was actually quite ordinary, hence the reason why we flicked between the two channels.

Saturday 13th May – GAME DAY (BRONCOS VS SEA EAGLES)

• We headed off to Sofitel Brisbane for breakfast, so it was another early morning. The morning absolutely splendid, sun beaming and not cool either. Just perfect. There was lots of lovely food for breakfast. My favourites were the cheeses, Danishes and chocolate Brochette. The fruit smoothies were also yummy. The view of Brisbane was great and I sat right in front of Central Station Clock.
• Alex & dad walked up Jacobs Ladder. We drove dad to Sherwood for a Vietnam Vets barbeque get together and Alex at Riverview, so she could do shopping for mother’s day.
• I watched the Tigers Manly game that I had on DVD and had Nachos (which had lots of garlic in it) that Ian had cooked as lunch about 3pm.
• Ian was working at the Broncos vs Sea Eagles game so Alex & I got a lift in at 4pm, arriving about 4.30pm. The gates at the stadium didn’t open til 5pm so we headed off to “The Coffee Club” in Park road. I remember this place very well from my Brisbane days. Alex ordered a Mango Iced Frappe and I ordered a Jamacian (Liqueur) coffee. Whilst having coffee I spotted a small gift shop to buy my mother her mother’s day present and a card. I had made a card for mother but had left it in Melbourne. Doh!
• I was meeting Belinda, a friend I met at the 2005 Broncos fashion parade last August, at her seat. They were in the Eastern stands about 20metre from the Southern end. We talked for about 1 hour whilst also watching the pre match game, Aspley vs Wynumn Colts. She’s flying to Melbourne for the 3rd State of Origin and also the Storm Broncos game so we talked about that and Broncos & Reds players (B Barnes).
• Alex and I headed back around to our seats at about 7.15pm with a stop on the way at Red Rooster. I actually didn’t realise they had a Red Rooster at Suncorp, or pizza to be honest. We both had Strip Subs and a drink. The game started about 7.35pm. Steve Bell, Brett Seymour (Buster) & Justin Hodges (Hodgo) all played. Brett Stewart however was out injured. The crowd for the game was 24,991. Buster was back after having a few weeks in the Clydesdales to build his confidence and work on his form. Highlights for me from the first half were ‘Karmichael Hunt’s (K)’ try & Buster’s try right in front of me, after running about 20metres. The look on his face was of utter amazement… he didn’t think he’d be able to get into the space to score the try. He had a really good game in many facets. You could tell that he was more confident and enthusiastic than in the earlier rounds this year. Justin was fantastic as his par for this season.
• In the second half Lockyer scored his 100th try and K scored in 79th minute after some sneaky work from Hodgo. Locky’s try was quite good with some great back up work from Thaiday & Hannant after a loose ball spilt from a Hodges tackle. The final score was 32-10. When the players went around the ground, as they usually do with half going one direction, and half the other. Hodges, Buster & Corey Parker all went round via the Southern stand. Corey & Buster both gave me a huge grin and wave. It surely was a complete end to a great game.
• I went back to Goodna and watched the Broncos game on Channel 9 and then Ian & I watched ‘Firefly’.
  

Sunday 14th May

• Another early morning as mother, father & I were leaving at 7.30am for Mother’s day breakfast at Ipswich church. Breakfast consisted of cereal and warm pancakes with maple syrup and little muffins.
• Went to church service, which was at 9.30am.
• After church we drove up to Toowoomba to visit Oma & Opa. We arrived 12pm on the dot. She looked like she had improved quite a bit since I last visited her two months ago in the nursing home that she was in respite in. Opa’s health wasn’t too good though. We had sandwiches for lunch and also cake from Michael’s Patisserie. He always orders the cakes from there. We think that he must like the girls.
• On the trip back from Toowoomba I listened to 4bc and the Wests Tigers Knights game was live call. We had to take slight detour on back roads on the way back as at one stage we came to a complete stop as a tyre had burnt out on the road and caused the highway to be closed. This meant about another 20minutes. Once I arrived home I watched the Tigers Knights game.

Monday 15th May

• This morning woke up at about 7.30pm. We were visiting Kathie & her new baby Bailey and Anabelle this morning. We had bought some paints as that is what they had run out of and required. Mum wrapped them up and then I gave her the present. This is my present.. I love receiving presents is what she repeatedly said.
• The baby was absolutely tiny (7days ago 52cm 7lb2oz). I held him for a while and he was very light. Unfortunately he was not really awake at any stage we were there so we didn’t see the eyes. Mum & Dad went off to get lunch of KFC. (In Queensland they have hot & spicy chicken all the time, not limited time only like in Melbourne).
• We headed to the airport so that I could get the 1550 flight from Brisbane to Melbourne with another detour along the way for about 10minutes to visit grandfather. The flight was quite good and landing was a bit uncomfortable. It’s at least another 5 weeks til my next trip to Queensland.