Brisbane

Ok so anyone that's sickened by a happy couple, I probably advise to stop reading before you've even started, as this entry may contain a few descriptions of a loved up girl who might just have the met the guy of her dreams in Australia. Sorry I did warn you. Pass the sick bucket... I've briefly mentioned in my past blogs that I was meeting Rich in Brisbane after making my way up half of the East Coast. So as some of you may not be aware, Rich is the big hairy guy in my photos that I met whilst I was in Sydney. And well, we kind of just hit it off straight away. You know those people you just connect to automatically? He was one of those people, and we spent many a night just staying up chatting as if we'd known each other our whole lives. And so, even though I was off to pick fruit in the middle of nowhere at the Fruitshack, and Rich was going to travel New Zealand, we decided to give it a shot, as Rich realised he just couldn't live without me.. We spent a couple of months apart, and weren't supposed to see one another again until September when we'd both be back in the UK. Rich is English, but he now has dual nationality as he recently obtained an Aussie passport. No, that's not the only reason I'm with him, I promise. It would be a long, hard slog going six months without seeing each other when we hadn't even known each other that long, but we were willing it give it a try. But, as Rich knew how many injuries I was obtaining at the Fruitshack, he came up with a brilliant idea that he would fly back over from New Zealand, see me for a week and then he'd fly back home to England from Australia. It sounded perfect as it gave me the opportunity to leave the Fruitshack, when I was supposed to be staying there for the whole eighty eight days of farm work. As you know, with the spider bite and the tendinitis in my wrist, things were getting a bit too much out there for me, and an opportunity to see my hairy beast wouldn't hurt either. Rich thought it would be a good idea for me to meet him in Brisbane as it would give me the chance to make my way up the coast and stop a few places along the way, and also to discover a new city I'd not yet been to. It sounded perfect. So after my four weeks travelling, I was so excited to be reunited with him. It had been a hard two and a half months being apart. I guess when couples get together, they spend the first few months getting to know one another better and spending every waking moment together. But it was different for Rich and I. We spent a lot of time together in Sydney and had the best time imaginable, but unfortunately when you meet a fellow traveller, it is inevitable that you'll have to part ways sooner or later. We made it work though and finally the day had arrived when I'd be meeting him at Brisbane airport. I'd had an amazing time the last few weeks, but in a way I just couldn't wait for it to be over so that I could spend a week catching up and spending quality time with Rich. It was strange, we'd spoken either on the phone or over text messages every day since we parted ways in Sydney, and we continued to get on incredibly well, but when the day came to be reunited with him, it was like I was meeting him for a first date. His flight wasn't arriving until the evening, so I spent the whole day in Brisbane trying to contain my excitement and my nerves. I moved from cafe to cafe, from park to hostel, from travel agent to cafe again. I just couldn't keep still. Why does the time have a habit of slowing down when you're looking forward to something so much? I decided to start making my way slowly to the airport just for something to do, as I couldn't handle sitting around twiddling my thumbs a minute longer. I'd seen signs for the Air Train that would take me directly to the airport. I walked around for a long time trying to find the train station but couldn't find it for the life of me. This is why I needed Stef with me on my travels; my sense of direction is just plain awful. I even get lost in Dover, a town I've lived in my entire life. After allowing more than enough time to get to the airport in time for Rich's arrival I was now starting to think I might well be late. It was absolutely typical. I'd spent all day trying to kill time, and now I wasn't going to make it. After a lot of panicking and wandering around, I finally found the train station, which was actually only five minutes away from my hostel and in a very obvious place. I paid $16.50 for a one way ticket to the international airport. What an absolute ripoff! Boy, was I starting to miss Asian prices! As it turned out. I had plenty of time before Rich's flight touched down from New Zealand. I was waiting around, convinced that he wasn't going to turn up, and that this was all some sort of joke. But a while later, his bearded face appeared through the sliding doors, and he was running up to me, grinning from ear to ear. We hugged, kissed and everything seemed to fall into place. In my head prior to meeting him, I had imagined a slow motion, Love Actually style reunion, and you know what, minus the slushy music and the slow mo, that's exactly what it was like. Yes, I did warn you it might be cheesy.. Now where's that bucket? We chatted in the minibus all the way back to the hostel and it was like we had never been apart. It was just like we picked up where we left off, and as though we hadn't just spent the last few months away from each other. We only had a week together before he flew back home, so we needed to make the most of every minute. And we certainly didn't fail when it came to catching up and having loads to talk about. Rich had been to Brisbane before and he'd said there really wasn't that much to do there, and a few other people had said similar things too. I wasn't too worried as it meant we'd be able to spend quality time together, rather than worry if we were packing everything in. As it happens we did fit so much into one short week. The first thing we did of course was head out to dinner. Rich had conveniently chosen a hostel right in the centre of Chinatown. Asian food draws him in every time, whereas I'd much rather have a greasy plate of western food smothered in cheese. We're very similar in a lot of respects, but when it comes to food we can never agree on where we eat out for dinner. Rich can eat any kind of hot, spicy Asian food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but as much as I enjoy it, it's never my first choice for a meal. And of course on the first evening, Rich won the battle, and we headed out to eat at a Laos restaurant. The last couple of days had been a bit poor, weather wise. The skies were grey and miserable and rain was on the cards for most of the days whilst I was in Surfers and some of the days in Byron too. I was dreading the weather being grim for our week in Brisbane, but just as I seem to take the rain with me everywhere I go, Rich seems to take the sun with him. Our whole week together was spent under a glorious blue sky and gorgeous Queensland sunshine. Of course, it's now winter in Australia and stepping over the border from New South Wales into Queensland definitely improved the temperature. The further north in the country you go, the hotter it is, even in the winter, so we were enjoying lovely warm days that felt like a British summertime. Our first morning was spent basking in the lovely sunshine whilst we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast. By coincidence two of Rich's friends he'd known for a long time were over in Brisbane on holiday for a few days from their home in Perth. We thought it would be a nice idea to all spend the day together, so that they could all catch up and I could get the chance to meet some of his friends. As Brisbane doesn't actually have a beach, we enjoyed a nice walk down to the man-made lagoon to meet them. Although at first this concept felt very bizarre, actually it was a lovely little area in the middle of a city with lots of restaurants, cafes and food stalls nearby the outdoor swimming pool that had been made to look like a beach. It was great to have a seaside feel in the centre of a bustling city. There was even a separate pool for young children and babies with lots of different water features to play in and enjoy. I thought it was such a great idea to give a city a beach, in a central location that was easily accessible and a great place for family and friends to meet, relax and have fun. Rich's friends, Seb and Jo shortly arrived, with their young daughter, Jessica and Seb's mum, Dee in tow. After the introductions had taken place, we all decided that a spot of lunch should be the first port of call. The food court was very busy, but thankfully we managed to find a seat, and all took it on turns to go up and choose from the various selections of yummy food. We enjoyed our lunch and had a nice chat, before heading over to the children's pool for Jessica to have a splash around. I genuinely think Jessica had a better time drinking the water from the mini fountains rather than actually playing in them. We all had a fun time watching and playing with her in the water. It was a perfect day for hanging out at an outdoor pool. The weather was lovely and hot and there was not a cloud in the sky. Some winter! After some tea and cake, Rich and I parted ways from the others as we headed back to our hostel and they went in the opposite direction to their hotel. It had been a lovely afternoon meeting Rich's friends, but it was so great just to be alone again. After all this was our first day together and we'd spent it with other people. It was nice to be able to just get that quality time we'd been hoping for. Over the last few weeks, I'd been reading the Harry Potter books again and I'd joked to Rich that we should watch the films when we were together in Brisbane. He didn't let me down; he'd downloaded all the movies onto his laptop and we started our marathon of the eight legendary films straight away, with our signature feast of cheese, chocolate, wine and crisps to go with it. We only had a few days but we were determined to watch all these Harry Potters! At least that's one thing we do have in common; we're both ever so slightly obsessed with the magical story of 'the boy who lived.' After cramming in every single film in one week, Harry Potter turned out to be our main topic of conversation, and a wizarding pun was used at every possible opportunity. It's safe to say it was all we spoke about. Did I mention that Rich and I are obviously really cool? We spent the next few days, aside from watching Harry Potter of course, just spending time together and wandering around the city. Our hostel had a pool and a jacuzzi and so we spent a good few hours in the hot, bubbling water of the tub. It was absolutely blissful and it took a lot of persuasion on my part to drag Rich out of there. We walked, cycled and rode on the free ferry to the city on various different days. The botanical gardens and the river that runs through the city of Brisbane were just beautiful. It's such a lovely place because although it has the normal attributes of a typical city, such as the high rise buildings, it also had a lot of greenery and natural aspects too. The river divides the city, and what I loved most about it, was that the quickest way to get around was not by car, train or bus, but by crossing the river on a boat. I mean, what's more beautiful than travelling everywhere on water? Especially since the Brisbane city council had organised the transport to be free. We could have easily walked from our hostel to the main Central Business District but it was just so lovely bobbing along on the Brisbane water, taking in the views of the city. The ride was especially beautiful at nighttime where we enjoyed seeing the lights of the Brisbane bridge light up a different colour every night. It was the type of city that I can actually imagine myself living in. Although I absolutely loved everything about Sydney, I don't think I can see myself living there long term. It was great for a couple of months, but it seems too high maintenance for my liking. I think I got a more relaxed vibe about Brisbane, and it just seemed like a great place to live and work. Every evening we saw lots of people running and cycling next to the river and it just looked like a beautiful location to be working out after a hard day at the office. The city just captured me for whatever reason. A lot of people aren't fussed either way about the city, but Brisbane for me is somewhere I'd love to hopefully spend more time one day and it will go on my list of my favourite places that I've so far visited. Many people who have been there may be surprised by that as generally there isn't a lot to do here, but maybe it's because Rich and I just had such a lovely time that those memories are what makes the place as amazing as it is for me. Of course we had many debates throughout the week about where we'd be eating out for dinner. There was no way I was letting him win Asian every single night! One evening, thankfully we decided to venture out of Chinatown and into the CBD. Getting the free ferry over to the city, we thought it might be a nice idea to have a go on the Wheel of Brisbane, as I'd seen it lit up at night and thought it would be very romantic to go on it together. So, before the dinner wars began, we paid our fare and settled down in our own little pod on the Ferris wheel and viewed the lights of Brisbane from up above. It was beautiful, and indeed very romantic to be sitting there together, literally watching the world go by, as we listened to facts about the history of the city through the speakers of our pod. It had set the tone for the evening, so we decided to keep the romance alive, by eating in a beautiful French restaurant we'd come across whilst having a look around. The meal and the service was incredible, but after spending far too many dollars on it, we were both somehow still hungry. We didn't feel as though we'd even eaten a meal, so of course we set out on a mission to find one thing: cake. We luckily stumbled across a chocolate cafe that served us up THE biggest slice of chocolate cake I've ever seen in my life. We reluctantly agreed to share, took it away with two forks and demolished it on a bench next to the river. The cake was as amazing as it was huge. It was just a massive pile of gooey chocolate and I think the award for the best cake I've ever had has to go to this slice. If there's a reason to go back to Brisbane, it is for this cake. Perfection on a plate. The week unfortunately was passing us by too quickly, and before we knew it our second to last day was upon us already. We'd decided to go to the water park, Wet 'N' Wild, which was a few hours away by train. We had the most amazing day there. The weather perhaps wasn't the best we'd had, which was a shame, but we still had an awesome day, checking out all the rides and slides. Some of the rides were absolutely terrifying, such as the one where you stand in a tube and the ground opens up beneath your feet and you go flying through the slide. Rich and I stood next to each other and waited to be counted down. I was so scared, and he said he could hear me screaming all the way down the tube. I could only face it once but Rich went back for more and more, the thrill seeker that he is. We had such a fun day, and it was a great thing to do together before our week was nearly over. Our last day had regretfully arrived. The week had gone by too fast for my liking and all too soon, Rich would be jetting off back to the UK, and I wouldn't see him again until I was back in September. We tried not to think about it too much, however and decided to take a lunchtime buffet cruise along the river, which we'd been meaning to do all week. The food was amazing, with a selection of various international dishes, followed by a delicious cake for dessert. Whilst we floated along the river, a cute little man told us facts about Brisbane in between singing and playing the accordion. It was absolutely brilliant, and to top it off there was a group of teenage kids who were asked to each choose someone from the guests to get up and dance. Of course, I would be one of the chosen few to get up and show off my dancing skills. Rich just stood in the corner, taking photos and laughing uncontrollably about the fact I was doing the Hokey Cokey with loads of teenagers and embarrassed dinner guests. The lunch cruise was just perfect and so romantic. This past week I felt like I was living in a movie. Everything was just so amazing and we'd had the best time together. It was just so lovely to spend a whole week just Rich and Emma. All good things have to come to an end, and before I knew it we were on the train on the way back to the international airport together ready for Rich's departure. I wished more than anything I was getting on that flight with him and that we were flying home together. It was absolutely heartbreaking as he left through the gate and I just turned and walked away, tears threatening to fall any second. We'd done this before and we could certainly do it again, but after the best week together it felt doubly difficult saying goodbye this time around. We'd said maybe seeing each other this week had perhaps made it worse but I'm so glad it broke the six months apart it would have otherwise been. Our week in Brisbane was the best week I could have hoped for. The city was beautiful and we made some lovely memories there. It was hard to say goodbye but I know that when we see each other again in London in September, the feeling will be incredible. It was only three months away. What's three months out of your life in the grand scheme of things?