Whoops!!

I pressed enter, by accident. D'oh!

Ah well, no hassle :D

This blogpost may seem like a real My News kinda thing, but ah what
the hell - it's MY blog so wahh! Hehe.

Saturday morning (31 July) we got everything ready, raced through to
G's parents to drop off Dude, then we headed through to the airport.
G drove, then at the airport we jumped out with our bags and G's dad
took the car - he was going to be using it for the week.

Had lunch at the airport, got on our domestic flight up to Jhb, met up
with Fe and his-D for supper (very yum sushi for me!). It was so fun
seeing them again - weird how time flies, we'd seen them last at the
wedding!!

Then we headed on to international and checked in. Went through
security check (we had a checked in bag, full of stuff for other-G
from his mom), then got on V Aus... it was nice, a new plane with
lekker entertainment system. The flight was nice too, but flying
overnight was a bit exhausting as it wasn't THAT late in our minds.
Got to Melbourne late in the afternoon (1 Aug), RAN AROUND like mad.
The connecting flight booking only allowed 2 options and we unwisely
chose the one with 1.5hrs in between instead of 2.5hrs.

First of all, we were delayed when the bag took ages to come through
onto the carousel*, then we were delayed badly by customs/quarantine.
We got to the check-in area, only to find about 5 different Virgin
Blue flights being checked in at the same time, so thank the lawd I
asked a ground-staff member to HELP!!!!!! And she got us to
queue-jump and got checked in 20mins before the plane was due to
depart for Brisbane.

We RACED through to the gates area, only to find ANOTHER long queue,
this time security for the same 5 or so Virgin Blue flights.
Thankfully we were allowed, once again, to queue-jump and so we raced
to the boarding gate. Only to find that our plane was delayed due to
the walkway-tube malfunctioning! We got on ok, and got into Brisbane
+- on time, late at night.

At Brisbane airport we had a short wait for our Coachtrans bus (very
handy!), then were whisked away and dropped off right outside the
hotel. We checked in, and G asked the reception-man whether he could
suggest someplace for us to eat. "The kitchen's only just closed!
Ah... Well, seeing this is Brisbane, and it's a Sunday night, not many
places would be open, but you could head into the CBD (5mins walk),
and see if you can find something...". The cook of the hotel kitchen
at that point walked past (having packed up for the night) so
reception-man called to him saying "these people want some supper..."
so he just replied "kitchen's closed, sorry", to which reception-man
amusedly turned to us and said "he didn't seem too interested in that,
did he!".

We eventually did head down into the CBD, and went to Hungry Jacks...
open 24hrs! There was a SERIOUSLY drunk man there, thankfully not
very hostile or anything, but the place was pretty busy so we bought
our (cheap) supper and went back to the hotel. I nearly died of
asphyxiation walking up the hill, and it took me about 10mins once we
got back to the hotel to actually regain myself. JEES I am so unfit!

We got to sleep pretty easily then, we didn't really sleep late though
as we'd made a hire-car booking and had banking to do. We strolled up
the road into Fortitude Valley and picked up our car - a cute little
Hyundai i30. We'd booked a lesser car, going more for cheapness than
driving pleasure, but were amused to find we'd got a 2l! Very nice.

We then drove back to the hotel, and were completely flustered when
parking when the key refused to come out of the ignition after
switching off. Only after nearly breaking the thing did we realise
that you need to... put the car into PARK first before removing the
key! And you can only put it into park if it's switched on (not
idling on-on though), and you have to put the handbrake up too.
Finicky, but I suppose safety over 'laziness'!

Then we headed down into the CBD again, to do some banking. This was
past 12, lunchtime rush starting to become evident because of the
number of pedestrians. Firstly I bought a simcard, registration for
that was painless. We then went into the bank, where it was quiet and
mostly empty. We were told to wait, and ahead of us in the queue were
3 people. We sat down, happy to wait. After about a minute a staff
member came to us and told us that they'd just asked more staff to
come in (presumably from lunch), and he reassured us that we wouldn't
have to wait long. I think we waited a total of 3mins! Incredible!

We were helped by a very nice, efficient and friendly lady, who, as
evidenced by the awards she had on her desk, is very good at her job
and is ALWAYS as friendly and helpful! She activated our account and
also opened a savings account for us, and applied for debit cards.
For the delivery of the cards we gave G's friends' address, and she
told us they'd arrive in about 4 to 5 working days.

After heading back to the hotel we arranged with other-G to go to his
place for supper. Raced out to buy a "refidex" (mapbook!), and,
jumping into our cute car, headed off that evening. It was so
painless driving across the city, and we got to his place quite
easily. His apartment is very nice, spacious and very modern and he
has a garage. Supper was very yummy too. I took a video clip of his
apartment to show his mom, I thought she'd like that seeing how she'd
made up this whole survival kit for us to take to him (the goodies for
him was the only reason we took checked-in luggage!), and specially
seeing how emotional she got when talking about him being so far away.

Tuesday we slept late, then walked up the hill to Roma Parklands. It
was a bit chilly with the wind, but lovely to wander around peacefully
in parklands and feel safe. After getting 'lost' we found our way to
Southbank, crossing over the funky bridge to get there. We lounged a
bit in the sun on the grass bank on the riverside, then walked on
further and had lunch near Streets Beach - a man-made beach (what a
strange concept!). On our way back to the hotel we went to the
internet cafe, then at the hotel had a very garlicky carbonara pasta
for supper. Much later that night G started to feel sick. We reckon
it's the hotel's food as he got sick last time we were in Brisbane,
and we were staying in the same hotel then...

The next morning he was still sick, but we attempted to head out to
catch the Mirimar boat to Lone Pine, but we didn't make it very far
and went treats shopping at Coles instead. When we got back to the
hotel, G had a nap and I lazed (ah what a life!) on the hotelroom
balcony. I bought a yum salmon+creamcheese sarmie from the coffeeshop
on the corner, and after having tea too, I dozed off briefly on the
balcony. What bliss!

That night, G mustered up all his strength and we went to our friends'
house (another G, weirdly! I'll refer to him as G/G, and his wife as
E and their daughter as little-E), to have supper with them and
other-G. Their 3 year old daughter is adorably sweet and she utterly
charmed our socks off. She's the most eloquent, well behaved 3yo kid
we've ever seen. Supper was very yum and I think it helped G to
regain a bit of strength.

Thursday we blobbed around again, G still not feeling up for a boat
trip to Lone Pine (he felt worse than the day before), so we went to
the internet cafe again and registered for a tax number. We bought
some eats too, to take with us to Lone Pine rather than buy there.
That evening we braved rush-hour to go to Westfied Garden City mall,
meeting up with other-G. We had KFC (I had a burger with bacon and
cheese... quite yum!), and just mallratted. Apparently Thursdays are
'late shopping' days in Brisbane. It's quite weird for us, being
spoilt by Canal Walk's 9am to 9pm hours daily! While we were at the
mall, G/G phoned and told us that our debit cards had already arrived!

Friday we drove through to Lone Pine and spent most of the day there.
I won't go into much detail about it, but it was lekker being there
again. I put my video camera to good use the whole time. Afterwards,
we popped in at G/G's place and picked up our cards and had tea with E
(and their daughter, little-E). All that was left for us to do was
pack, then, so we headed back to the hotel (had supper there) and then
packed, ready for our journey back. THIS time, we would have NO
checked-in luggage.

We got up at 2am Saturday morning, checked out and drove to the
airport. It took far quicker than we expected so we got there about
3:15am. Obviously no one was at the car-hire desk, so we had to
'express-return' the keys. The airport was almost empty until about
4am, when others started to arrive. After a bit we checked in (the
lady was rather icy/terse), and went to the gates. I bought some
chips which I stuffed into my bag (yay, souvenir treats!), and we
waited. The flight to Melbourne was uneventful but fine.

Once again, in Melbourne, we had an awful rush, only this time, we
weren't at fault for unwisely choosing a too-short connection, it was
the only one offered by the airline. While going through the motions
of checking in and all that jazz, we had to go through security check
again, which was different to usual. They had an MC-type guy standing
to the side giving information about restricted items and stuff you
may not take onboard, and after the long time standing in that queue,
both G and I felt quite stressed by the adrenalin and hype. It was
like being in a Hyperama on Jolly Trolley or Hypermania days...
exhausting and noisy!

We got onto our plane alright, but were over an hour delayed as the
plane had to refuel. I was particularly anxious about that because
our flight from Jhb to CT was only 1hr 15mins after the Melbourne-Jhb
plane was due to land, AND it was the LAST flight of that airline for
the night. Plus, if we missed it, it'd be such a waste of money. But
no worries, the pilots made up such good time that we were only about
5 mins later than expected in Jhb. It was a long and uneventful
journey, the biggest bonus being that G and I got to sit in a 2-seater
row, with no one but a flight-attendant sitting behind us during take
off and landing (and he was even facing the other way!). Lovely. And
the loo was right there too - super-convenient.

We RACED, again, to get to our next plane in Jhb. We got a bit
disoriented though, as we couldn't figure out where domestic
departures was, but we found it eventually and checked in hurriedly.
The lady there asked us why we'd just ran, to which G answered
'because gates close 40mins prior to departure, and it's now 38mins
prior to departure...'. Duh. We checked in ok though, raced to the
gate, and thankfully weren't the last people to get there: there was a
whole busful of us who eventually headed to the plane.

OH MY GODDD what a cramped dreadful flight! G and I were seated
separately on different rows, on opposite sides of the plane (at least
nearish) - I guess because of how late we'd checked in. Both of us
were in the middle seat, and neither of us had access at all to any
arm-rests. G was seated next to 2 interesting guys, I on the other
hand was seated next to a quiet, polite Muslim man and a white guy
with a FLIPPIN' LOUD Iphone/pad/tampon. And he kept nudging me in my
ribs as he turned magazine pages, but at that stage of the 'day', I
was beyond caring. I was trying my damndest to stay seated and not
run yelling to the toilet! I simply folded my arms, jabbed my elbows
into my handbag on my lap and tried to zone out. I think it worked as
I think I nodded off occasionally.

It was either that or watch the 'air-TV' which was showing, which was
HORRENDOUS! A business news-clip about the Gautrain and whether it'll
be ready for the 'football fans next year', HELLOO, SWC has passed?
And an interview with some golfer's wife. Both of the clips were
subtitled, but DREADFULLY: in a transcript, you don't PUT in where
the person ums and ahs, FFS! And you most certainly check your
spelling/grammar/word usage. Anyway, it was excrutiating but I
survived.

We arrived in CT early (yay!) and, wonderfully, CT didn't disappoint:
3 out of the 7 basin-taps didn't work in the ladies' bathroom.
WELCOME TO CAPE TOWN EVERYBODY!! Come to think of it, Jhb airport
wasn't much better (it smelled a bit grim).

G's dad was godsently there, waiting for us and G drove us to his
parents' place, to drop his Dad off before coming home. We weren't
sure whether we'd take Dude with us or not (if he was sleeping it
seemed a bit pointless waking him etc), but after a while of us 4
chatting he really perked up and started talking too. So he came home
with us.

All in all, a WONDERFUL trip. I wished and still wish that we were
able to STAY rather than have to come back... I just love it there.
So, maybe our ETA will change? Watch this space!!

* the story with my bag. Ah, ha. When I grabbed my bag off the
carousel in Melbourne, I instantly noticed that something was wonky
with the zip. I'd padlocked it, but it was 'off'. So we dragged the
bag to one side to inspect the contents, only to find that some UTTER
WORTHLESS SLUG ACSA/ORTIA employee had damaged my zip to steal: 3 x
peppermint crisps. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, 3 CHOCOLATE BARS. And
not only did they do that, they left one of the wrappers behind, AND
to add insult to injury, they RIPPED the ziploc I'd put them and some
jellytots packets in. Jellytots packaging being notorious for leaking
sugar (hence my ziploc'ing them in the first place!), my entire bag
was now covered in sugar. Lovely. What a bunch of fucktards.