We went for a cruise down the river yesterday. In a water commuter.

Some might call it a ferry.

On the Brisbane River (indigenous name, Maiwar).

Which weaves its way through the city of Brisbane.

In Brisbane.

Queensland.

Our hosts, long standing friends, had spent some time trying to decide the best way to spend the 23 hours we had allocated to our catch-up over this part of our latest adventure.

It was a pretty cruisy day.

Good choice Pamela and Brett.

The cruise took us to Bulimba where we disembarked (do you do that on a water taxi, or just step off?) and walked up the main street of this trendy little neighbourhood for a delicious pre-organised lunch.

Mind you the napkin would have been delicious for me at that point.

By the time our lunch arrived I had essentially been without food for 20 hours.

Hangry. In the extreme.

Like a fox terrier dog.

Don’t touch the food in front of me!

Naturally I over-ordered but to my credit I was up to the task of eating most of the shared entrees, my plate, some of Mod’s, plus eyeing off the remains of his plate.

Yes he left some remains.

WHAT!!!

But I held back.

I remembered my manners. Our friend Thomas once said, in his culture it was good manners to leave something on your plate.

Respect to the chef.

To be fair, I was probably tired given we had been up since 1.30am aussie time.

Otherwise I would have scoffed down those remains.

We had risen at 3.30am in NZ to journey across the ditch for MoD’s significant number birthday week in sunny Queensland.

I had decided stop-overs in Brissie each way would be pretty cool to catch up with some friends we wouldn’t normally get to see.

Given that my Australian homestays are reserved for the Rat, it is a rare occurrence that I go home and go somewhere else.

Brissie put on a spectacular show for us, with clear blue skies and a nice 15 degrees.

After our cruise we wandered around the city markets and then decided for a special treat we would drag MoD to not one but two Aldi’s!

He soooo loves Aldi.

NOT!

Says it’s too random shopping there.

And just to establish that argument, he took great joy in pointing out the electronic ear thermometer, the white board markers, and the airless paint sprayer.

All bunched happily together.

Right there beside the toilet paper, face wash, chocolate and the children’s books.

Hilarious MoD.

That’s why we love Aldi.

Needles to say, including my Aldi fix, we had a lovely day in Brissie.

With it’s beautiful gardens and stunning rainforest walks on the edge of the river, it really is a pretty city.

Well worth a visit.

Today, early morning, we hit the airport to head to our holiday destination.

Port Douglas.