Girl Talk and Australia Day

I arrived safe and sound in Brisbane and was met at the airport by Nicole who had arranged her work schedule so that she could do so. I'm feeling a bit sorry for her as she is the first adult female company I've had in over a month and I haven't stopped nattering at her since the moment I got in the car. It has been really nice to have some girl talk. She got me settled in the house and then we went out to see the neighbourhood and do a booze run. We enjoyed the afternoon on the balcony with a few cocktails and more girl talk :-). Once it got dark we could watch the possums running from tree to tree along the telephone wires beside the street. It's interesting that I've seen more possums here than in the countryside at Brian's. They're kind of like squirrels in the city.

It is very hot and humid here, but there is often a breeze on the balcony and it's quite pleasant to sit out. Running errands or just walking around is a different story and we're all taking several showers a day. I'm hoping to do some running while I'm here, but will have to do it first thing in the morning or not at all. It is very hilly around here and I'm sure that the heat and hills will do me in.

Paul and Nicole both had Friday off so we met up with some friends of theirs for Australia Day celebrations in town. It was much like Canada Day with lots of people out and about enjoying the live music, barbeques and cold beers. We cracked our first pint at 11:00 AM on the nose and we didn't look back. At my insistence, we left a beautiful pub balcony in Southbank at about 3:00 to go check out the annual cockroach races on the patio of the Story Bridge Pub. This was quite an event - the place was just packed with people betting on the races and each race was preceeded by a pipe and drum procession, and followed by a trophy awarding ceremony. The pipers and drummers were clad in the ubiquitous yellow and green of Oz and VB (see below). The cockroaches were released onto a large target on the ground and the first one to cross the outer circle won. Unfortunately, due to the heat, I was only able to watch one race before I absolutely melted and my entourage insisted we get ourselves into an air-conditioned venue. The cockroaches also seemed somewhat affected by either the weather or perhaps the lack of air in their container, as many landed on their backs on the "race track" and stayed that way. Strangely, nobody seemed to be concerned that they had just put money down on a dead cockroach. Given the amount of beer being consumed, I would have thought that this would have started riots.

We left there and went to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow which was less crowded and allowed us to sit inside out of the blazing sun. This pub also had a promotion going on. Unfortunately, it was sponsored by Victoria Bitter (VB) which is sort of Australia's version of Labatt's 50, and we didn't want to have to drink it to participate. Finally one of our entourage, Rebecca, agreed to drink the VB and "take one for the team" so that we could particpate in the contest. She's still young and resilient, and we were very grateful to her for her efforts. (Although in all fairness, she got to drink free all afternoon, so I guess she's not the fool wee took her for.) For every VB bought, you were given a little stuffed koala. The koala was placed on a tee (like kids use for t-ball) and you had to whack it with a cricket bat at a wall of stuffed kangaroos. When you knocked over a kangaroo with a koala, you were awarded the prize that corresponded to the kangaroo. We all came home with VB hats, t-shirts, stubby holders and the like. The kicker is that Paul and Nicole also won the grand prize draw and are the proud owners of a new VB bar fridge. All in all it was an excellent day.

Paul and Nicole have been wonderful hosts and I'm feeling a little guilty here. They are treating me like royalty and don't seem to want to let me help or pay for anything. They really need to be a bit more careful or I may never leave. And on that note, I may in fact stay on a bit longer than expected. They have a couple of celebrations coming up (housewarming and Paul's 40th) which I may stick around for.

A note of interest: When I was in Melbourne I discovered a french fry shop that actually sold poutine as part of it's international menu. They don't have cheese curds in Australia so they use grated cheese instead. It wasn't exactly right, but was a great taste of home.