Brisbane 2010

Dan Quagmire Is Gay.
That was one of the many things I found out about whilst on holiday/at the conference. Dan is Glen's dad, Dean.
It was a fairly calm flight over with interesting tv's and the option to watch what you want, when you want, which was a change since the last time I went international on a flight. Sunitha and I chatted most of the way about this 'n' that and nothing in particular. We got to the apartments we were staying at which were reasonable. Sunitha liked the bed in her apartment. She said she had a really good nights sleep on it. I kept waking up about 2am which would have been 5am NZ time. The norm for me.
So after checking in and finding out we were on different floors and needed a pass for the lift to get to each others' floor, we decided to ring each other when ready to go where-ever and meet in the lobby. As it was, I found out on the Wednesday that we could have used the stairs. I used them to go between the gym/pool area and my floor which was the next up. 
So onto the conference. It was good. Not necessarily in the breakout streams that were set up. More the networking between the sessions at tea breaks etc. For the talking to people who had done what we were looking to do at LIncoln. The key note speeches were very good though. That's not to say the sessions were bad though. Just not as productive for us as networking. True, we could have emailed the forums for our issues and questions but it's never the same as meeting face to face.
In the evenings we both went out for meals apart from the Monday which was the day of the organized dinner. The good things about the dinner were that we networked some more. Met new people and discussed our work situation and what we needed to do. We also were told by someone (Praj) who had been on this cruise before to eat the snack food because the main meal might not be up to much. The view as we floated down the river was nice. And the last good thing was that the cruise stopped halfway through the evening so people could get off if they wanted to.
The things I didn't like about the cruise/meal were the meal, the loud music and because I kept waking up at 2am I was very tired and wanted to sleep. So. Sunitha and I got off the cruise halfway through the evening and went back to our respective apartments to sleep. I would like to say that I wish I had not wasted my time going on the cruise as it wasn't really my cup of tea but the networking made up for the rest.
To be honest I wasn't too impressed by the food at the conference either. The coffee and tea were good though and I could top up my apartment sugar supply which always disappears too fast.
Wednesday, and I went for a walk through the botanic gardens and along the river across to the south bank and back along the river again and crossed the Story bridge. The Story bridge looks ok but what I found interesting was the fact that it felt like it was shaking all the time traffic was crossing it. To those in the know, it felt like a 3.0-3.5. Constant shaking. Freaky. After a lunchtime snooze, because I can, I went to buy some jeans and have a look around town.
On Thursday I went for a walk around the south bank of the river the other way this time and I found that the library had free wi-fi Internet access, so starved as I was for checking on my rubbish, I spent an hour catching up on my 70+ emails, 200+ news feeds, and social waffle.
Late afternoon I was picked up by Alex (a friend I've known for a long time) who took me to a couple of places to see some sights. Then driving through town pointing things out about Brisbane, After which it was onto a Japanese restaurant for dinner in the evening. We chatted about many things. My life, her life and what's happened in between. On my side we talked about Audrey, Jamie and Bees and a few other things. We also talked about some numerology stuff that Alex is interested in.  A very wonderful evening to catch up after 16 years. I hope it's not another 16 years before we catch up again.
Friday, and an early morning walk north to some gardens and have a look around, then south, over the river to my free Internet cafe. Then a wander back for a lunchtime snooze before off out again to do some shopping. I had to buy another bag as mine was full due to it being full when coming over and now with jeans, Christmas presents, kids presents and a heavy jacket that Sunitha accidentally left in her apartment, I had no room in my original bag. $10 wasn't too bad for a bag really. I must remember to always take a bigger bag.
One of the reasons for coming over was to spend some time by myself and do some thinking and clear my head a little. I haven't really had any time to myself since Audrey died and I felt I needed to.
Just some side things I noticed whilst I was here. Tv is shite. Starsky & Hutch, The A Team, Rockford Files, and my favourite so much so that I had to watch it, George and Mildred. Classic. It looks like crap TV is a global phenomenon. Either that or my interests on what is available for me to watch have changed.
Evenings are great here. Warm, alfresco dining weather in t-shirt and shorts.
There is probably enough to do here for me and the kids for a week with a couple of trips to places like Australia Zoo and the like. Maybe I'll come over here next year. All the pictures I took are here.