Time Well Spent

Tuesday. Was it? We have lost track of days in all our time on the road, and a Tuesday might as well be a Friday, or a Sunday for all we know. But yes, it was Tuesday and we were still in Brisbane. We had planned to stay 3 nights as we could use the time to relax a little and recover from the manic US Greyhound and New Zealand campervan schedules. So we had a very low-key day planned. After lunch (yes, I have skipped to about 2pm already) we headed back into the city centre to have a mooch round the shops, as we were still in need of a few items, most importantly a replacement iPod for James. He had a small slice of luck with a shop called EB Games that did sell 2^nd hand iPods, but only 8Gb Nanos, and he would need 16Gb at the very least. But we decided that we may have better luck in Sydney or Melbourne as they are a large company.

Hmmm, I wouldn't want to work there...

We wandered round the shopping malls and the streets, where I managed to purchase a few souvenirs that will need sending back from Melbourne. We also managed to find a discount chemist to stock up on toiletries, and I am now smelling of Playboy: London as it was cheap and a small bottle. And the Ibiza one stank of twigs. After that we headed back along the river and through the Botanic Gardens. Part of the university campus is located on the park and we were walking through as lessons were kicking out and being pestered for all kinds of student pleas and political stand-points. Oh, and we saw a guy practicing capoeira. He had some good skills.

Man in park doing capoeira

With nothing much else to do we went back to the hostel (via Coles for some more fodder) and chilled before dinner. Another big Heinz soup tin (my dad would be so proud!) and some focaccia bread to accompany it and we were ready for a drink or two. Having debated going all the way back into town we decided to just loiter in the on-site bar as we would need to pack all our stuff up and get stuff ready to move out on the morning. The bar were doing a 1140ml pitcher for $9.50 til 9pm so we grabbed one at 8:45 and then got another (to sit on the side) at 5-minutes-to 9 so we could take advantage of the deal. Who knows what they might be charging after Happy Hour, it could have been $10 for all we know, but it sure felt good to be drinking a cold beer out of a pint glass…and a proper English pint glass too! There was a killer pool tournament on but neither of us fancied our skill against the few who were involved, and not at $5 to enter either. So we supped our cold beers and put the world to rights until we made a move back to the room to get our stuff together for moving on in the morning.