Brisbane

We flew into Brisbane from Sydney with a hostel booked for the night and looked forward with anticipation to picking up our decked out camper van the next day. It was a shock to the system to find out how much even just one night cost in a simple hostel – we were so used to Southeast Asia prices! At $80 a night, the prospect of renting a camper van for less than half that price per day suddenly seemed like a really, really good idea.

The next day at the rental depot we saw our home for the next five weeks - what joy! We had received a double upgrade to a new model, the Kuga, year 2008, and it was so sweet. Kitchen with double burner stove, fridge, microwave and sink with electric water pump.  Fantastic!  The benches in the back folded out into a spacious double bed, and the high top could convert into another bed, which meant lots of standing room.  

We were really stoked, and Ben had a few intense moments pulling out of the parking lot driving left side stick, on the left side of the road, in the middle of busy Brisbane traffic.  He succeeded valiantly in navigating the craziness with the assistance of our trusty GPS, "Leggy Bruce" as we later named him, a very useful loan from Kiera and Dave.

Our first stop was a three day visit to our good friend Kevin Beddis who is currently living in the Indooroopilly neighbourhood of Brisbane. We met Kevin during Ben’s time in Calgary a lifetime ago and we were really looking forward to catching up!

We met and immediately got along with Kevin’s housemates Ollie, Em and Dan, and proceeded to have a fun-filled weekend full of barbeques and big home-cooked brunches. Funnily enough, Emily’s first impression of us was formed when she stumbled on us napping in their hammocks on the back deck, giving us a curious glance as she tip-toed by.

Kev took us on the public catamaran that trolls the river into downtown Brisbane, a very fun and fast ride. We strolled the streets, saw the fake beach, and shopped at Vinnie’s (the local thrift store) for some warm clothes.  The weather was beautiful but fresh at night, and after the tropical heat of Southeast Asia, we were still having some difficulties adjusting to the temperatures.

We found a park with a bird’s eye view of the city for our packed lunch and splurged on delicious Australian coffee before returning home.  It was funny to think that for the next 5 weeks, home was wherever our van was parked – which at that time meant on the street beside Kevin’s house, where we would retreat every night for a comfy sleep.

The same evening we went out for drinks at Ollie’s work, the Pig and Whistle, and awoke late the next morning to a bit of a hangover and a lazy day. In the afternoon we decided to be really Australian by trying out the lawn bowling club (a favourite local pastime) and cooking up Kangaroo burgers for dinner. We spent a relaxed afternoon rolling the ball back and forth, ending with a very competitive and ridiculously bad roll-off. Afterwards Kevin expertly grilled the ‘Roo and we all enjoyed the meaty treat.

We said our goodbyes after a super fun weekend to head up north to Noosa Heads, where we planned to start our surfing adventure.  We would return through Brisbane on the way down to Sydney, and so there were more parties in store with the good people of Fairley Street - the goodbye was only temporary. Our sights were now firmly set on fulfilling the amazing dream of becoming real….Surfers! Radical.