 |
| Erin and I enjoyed the day in Kuranda including the Scenic Railway ride to the top. |
| Glenn's Journal 02-26-03 thru 02-28-03 Queensland Wednesday morning and the plan for today is to return to Jo and Shane's home just north of Brisbane. We are in no realy hurry and only have to be there in time to prepare dinner. It is another rainy and overcast day but we were hoping for some sun. I kept my fingers crossed all morning hoping we would get a few minutes to soak in the sun. We spent the morning cleaning up around the house, doing laundry, and putting the house back in order. The rain came and went all morning but not long enough to enjoy. We finally left Noosa around 1:30 pm. We knew we didn't have much of a drive today but we didn't realize that it would take less than an hour. Our first stop was to drop Erin off at the house so she could work on the website while I went grocery shopping for dinner tonight. I went to the local mall in Caboolture where I found a bookstore and purchased guide books (Lonely Planet) for Bali and Thailand, our next stops on this adventure. I did some window shopping even stopping to check out the dogs and cats at the pet store. Grocery shopping did not take me long and I was home by 5:00 pm. Jo and the kids (Cassie and Emma) were home and we shared stories of our travels over the past few weeks. Shane had returned to work to put a new clutch in Jo's car as it had gone out last week. Erin prepared dinner which was spaghetti and bread which we all enjoyed. Shane enjoyed a reheated dinner later that evening. Emma goes to bed at 7:30 pm and Cassie retires to bed at 8:00 pm. After the kids were in bed we sat and watched a DVD movie. We retired around midnight. Tomorrow I had plans to meet Shane at work to do some work on the car before I sold it, stop by used car dealers to see if I could sell it, and, most importantly, pick up the tuxedo. 02-27-03 Queensland I was up early having breakfast and preparing for the busy day around town while Erin slept in. I woke her up around 9:00 am when I was getting dressed to go out. I left the house around 10:00 am and found my way to Shane's office by 10:20 am. Shane was very helpful as he took time away from his job to work on my car. Shane is a mechanic by trade and nows works warranty at a major Toyota dealer in town. He still works on cars in his spare time. Shane had the radiator flushed and cleaned the engine. He also had a company stop by the shop to repair the cracks in the window that we picked up on the road to Emerald. We stopped out for lunch while the window repairs were taking place. I left the shop just before 2:00 pm when everything was completed. I then stopped in to the Department of Transportation to find out the cost of changing the registration over to Queensland from South Australia. I spent the next few hours stopping at used car dealers researching what I should sell the car for or if someone would buy it from me. I had a few interested parties but will return after Fiji to firm up an offer. It was not after 3:30 pm so I headed off to pick up the tuxedo. I arrived around 4:00 pm as the afternoon rush hour traffic was starting to kick in. I tried on the tux and verified that it was all there. The fitting went well and I paid for the rental and went on my way. I stopped at another used car dealer before finding my way home around 5:00 pm. Jo prepared dinner and, after the girls went to bed, we watched a little television (including Joe Millionaire) and talked about reality television especially ones that deal with relationships and couples. Erin stayed up to watch a late movie as I retired to bed around 11:30 pm Tomorrow we are off to Fiji. 02-28-03 Queensland We awoke around 7:00 am where we could spend time with Jo and the girls before they left for work. Shane leaves for work at 7:00 am so most mornings we miss him. We are flying to Fiji today and Jo has offered us a ride to the airport. Luckily for us her schedule allows her the freedom to break away from work when required. Jo left for work at 8:00 am and was spending the morning in a meeting with her manager for the whole morning but would return to pick us up around 1:00 am. Erin spent the morning working on the website while I packed our bags. We were taking everything with us to Fiji, including all of the items we had bought recently, so our friends and family could take them back to the states for us. This would save us the cost of mailing one large package back to the states from Australia. We ended up with 3 checked bags and 4 carry-ons to Fiji. We usually only have our 2 backpacks and 2 daypacks with us so this is quite a bit more than we are used to having. We stopped for lunch around noon and Jo arrived home around 12:45 pm to take us to the airport. We arrived at the airport and were checked in and heading to the gate by 2:00 pm. We read books and other wise wasted our time as we waited for our 3:45 pm boarding with a 4:00 pm departure. We departed on time as the plane was pretty empty. Erin and I had 6 seats to ourselves near the back of the plane. The other couple in the back were honeymooning in Fiji. The movie on the 3 1/2 hour flight was The Tuxedo which we both agreed was pretty stupid. Erin even likes Jackie Chan movies but she agreed that this was his worst. |