A Visit with Tish and the Ride Back to Sydney

Me, Mike, and Tish at Mike and Tish’s cute house in Brisbane.  I know Tish from back in Tunisia where she was working for a local English language institute.  Also in Tunisia, I ran into her partner Mike at a party.

On the train back to Sydney.  I wish there was an open-air observation car rather than having to shoot photos through two panes of thick glass.  The countryside was stunningly green up north but slowly transitioned toward tan.  Cows and pastures dotted the landscape with the occasional Queenslander-style house interspersed.  I didn’t see any kangaroos though.

Brisvegas

The first time Mandy and I met was online.  In fact until last weekend, I had never met her in person before.  Way back in 2004 when I was living in Tunisia, she contacted me wanting some information about the country as she was considering a trip there at the time.  Flash forward six years and we finally got to meet in the flesh.

Getting the fire ready for the fire barrel.

Mandy in her native habitat.

Have couch, will travel.

This is quite possibly the most miraculous invention in the history of alcohol consumption.  Mandy and her friends discovered that a common baby bottle, referred to as a “biddy” in Queensland, works wonderfully in bouncy castles and other high-spill-likelihood situations.  I have been tasked with bringing this triumph of Australian ingenuity back to the United States and to the rest of the world.  My friends, I give you the biddy in all its glory.

Singing and kissy faces occasionally happen.

A Real Australian.  Or so his hat would say.

All feet forward!

Proof that Mandy and I were physically co-located for at least one minute!

Making bacon and eggs on the barbecue the next morning.

Out at the Port of Brisbane where Mandy works driving semi trucks and scheduling loads.

The red cranes are all robotic and run with no human in the loop.

Mandy’s truck.

Vroom vroom!  It’s a 16 speed if I remember correctly.

The grille on the lower part of the windshield is to help deflect bugs.

Wakeup call at 3pm.

And with one final photo, I left Mandy and headed back into Brisbane proper and onward to other adventures.  Until next time, Mandy!

Downtown Brisbane

Last weekend I hopped on a train bound for Brisbane to visit Mandy, a friend from the intarwebs who I had never met in person before, and Tish, a friend from back in the Tunisia days.  The train going to Brisbane was a night run.  I purchased a last-minute promotional economy class fare.  However, when I got to the platform I found that I had been bumped up to a very nice first class seat in the handicapped-accessible car.  In fact, I had a singleton seat with no neighbors.

Leaving Sydney Central.

A CityLink train speeding by.

Planes and trains.  If there was an automobile, this photo would be complete.

At about 11pm the train came to an abrupt stop at a station in the middle of woop woop (nowhere).  Shortly before, a window on a carriage one or two ahead of mine had been blown out by a rock that was thrown from the side of the tracks.  One or two people appeared to be being taken off the train for medical attention while the railway workers went about patching the window with plywood.  The heavily armed guards that accompanied our train (several groups of railway police roamed through the cars) seemed to think the whole incident was a non-incident.  Evidently the night train to Brisbane can be a rough affair and trouble of this sort often happens.  I also noticed someone from the economy class cars being led away in handcuffs, visibly stumbling.  He appeared to be being kicked off the train for public intoxication.  While others didn’t fare so well on the train, I made it safe and sound to Brisbane.

The Brisbane Roma Street Station where the CountryLink train from Sydney terminates.

An old church near the Town Hall Square.

Town Hall in Brisbane.

This artwork is entitled: “Death of an Astronaut.”

The Queensland ANZAC memorial.

The eternal flame.

Central Train Station.

A plaque commemorating both World War I and World War II.

A statue commemorating campaigns in Korea, Malaya, and Borneo.

This statue is dedicated to Australia’s involvement in Vietnam.

This is one side of a two-sided statue.

The other side of the statue.  It is dedicated to the South Pacific Campaign of World War II.

A memorial for the South African (Second Boer) War.

Can’t quite recall what this is memorializing.

An important military man who also was important for other reasons.

The old post office still in use as a post office today.

I’ve never seen an internal building structure quite like this before.  From what I could discern, the red beams are the main support columns.  The building is still under construction.  I wonder if it will remain standing once it’s done.

Suck it, Queensland!  The Bank of New South Wales is in town.

The old treasury building that is now a casino.

Queen Victoria.

An important guy.

So important that someone gave him a shawl.

The parliament building.

In the Royal Botanic Garden.

A palm rosary with palm trees from Cuba.

Cool roots hanging down from a tree.

Looking out at the bridge over the river.

People were actually living on that yellow rust-bucket.  Brave people to be sure.

An old public fountain now preserved for posterity.

At the University of Queensland.

Some old ships at the Maritime Museum.

An old warship in the dry dock.

I believe the red boat in the back is a floating lighthouse.

Random statue of an important Chinese guy.

A cool foot bridge that I later crossed.

The river and the ocean aren’t safe to swim in.  Instead, man-made “oceans” pop up here and there around Australia.  One would think that they could do something about the sharks and jellyfish.

Small shrine left behind from some world exposition.

After I crossed the bridge, I walked down to the train station and hopped a train to go see Mandy.  Onward to more adventure!