The week went by pretty uneventfully. I didn’t accomplish much Monday. Tuesday I ventured out to the grocery store to get some food for the week since Oliver hasn’t been wanting to get food with me lately, which was fine.

Several times now Oliver ordered some food with orange chunks or slices he said were pumpkin. I’ve never seen pumpkin served any way other than as pumpkin pie, and the pumpkins I’m used to seeing don’t have particularly thick edible walls. Well, here’s the explanation. Those three squash things on the left are all “pumpkin” here. I’m not sure if these exact things are sold in the U.S. or not, I’ll have to pay more attention.

I couldn’t stop myself, however, from getting fast food to go, bags of groceries in hand, at a restaurant just a block from Oliver’s. It was all right.

Red Rooster, a fast food chain like McDonald’s

I didn’t do much other than work the rest of Tuesday through Friday. Late Friday afternoon, I made the abrupt decision after talking to Daniel to leave Oliver’s and go back to Brisbane. I wasn’t doing much other than work, and Oliver was keeping to himself, so I thought a change of scenery and getting to know a new friend would be great.

So I asked Daniel to book me a standy ticket for that afternoon, I packed up and headed to the airport. A few hours later I was back with Daniel, and he was very excited to see me.

We did need to figure out what to do that night, though, as Daniel’s place was coincidentally unavailable that night. I guess his cousin was having people stay over or something, and Daniel was going to stay with family. Instead, we booked a cheapish hotel room for $100 at Metro Hotel Tower Mill, right near Daniel’s place. They had Internet for 24 hours for $15, so I bought that and started catching up on some work.

We also ordered Domino’s. It was quite different than in the United States. The cheese was browner and less appealing looking, though it tasted fine I think. But the pizza itself was quite small for a medium. At least it was on sale for $6, down from $15. I didn’t care, though, as I was craving pizza.

The next day, Saturday morning, we checked out of the hotel and went to figure out an Internet plan, as I would need to do my work another five or six business days, and Daniel didn’t have Internet at home. We eventually ended up at the airport again to use the Internet, despite Daniel no longer working there due to a recent issue he had with his airline. We did park in the staff lot, though, as his pass still worked.

The gates at Brisbane’s international airport, which is a separate facility from the domestic airport.

Oh, and that day was a major storm in Brisbane. Apparently the first one in a long time that featured cyclones. It killed power to a lot of the city and downed trees.

We happened to be at the airport (using the Internet) when a sudden storm hit. The winds were pretty severe, as I watched some baggage containers and carts sliding across the tarmac out toward the runway. There was also a cyclone somewhere in Brisbane during this storm, which is rare here. And just last week there were cyclones in Tazmania, which Chloe said never happens. Global warming?

This airport has a prayer room, too.

After the airport, we went back to the city and dined at the Wintergarden mall food court.

For only $11.50 in Australian dollars, you can get this lovely burrito. It’s a bit more than half the size of typical burritos in the United States.

And Finally we made our way to the library to get some work done, as rumor had it there was free Internet there, and it was true.

I’m getting some work done at the Brisbane Library. Daniel… was going to read a book, but I guess decided not to.

Daniel

The view from the library. Daniel says that ferris wheel is about $17 and nobody rides it.

Brisbane City Council / Library building, not sure what this is

This is the Treasury Casino. Not exactly Vegas style, but I like it.

After some hours, the weather improved, and Daniel took me to the local viewing point, Mount Coot-tha. It was a bit like looking over San Francisco from Twin Peaks.

Brisbane from Mt. Coot-tha

Brisbane from Mt. Coot-tha

CNG_4029.JPG

Trying to check in on Foursquare, but no service up here. :(

The tiles are a map of Brisbane.

Daniel

First time getting McDonald’s since I moved to San Francisco more than six months ago. Only got a 30 cent cone, though!

Later that night, Daniel had a farewell gathering for one of his friends at Virgin Australia who was transfering to a different department at the airline. Daniel insisted I accompanied him, which was nice. And the night was nice, too, other than the price of drinks. His friends were celebrating at a somewhat upscale bar called Friday’s, where weak double rum and diets cost $18. I don’t even want to say what I spent there trying to get tipsy.

Cigarette boxes are very different in Australia. There is no brand distinction other than the name at the bottom. The back is entirely health warnings.

Ange’s farewell, as she is transferring to a new department at the airline Virgin Australia

Daniel at night

I don’t understand how some people look so good with so little effort :-(

Daniel and me

Then the group decided to head to a club called Mystique, which they described as a straight “black” club, apparently referring to Pacific Islanders. There were only a couple people there I would describe as black!

Josh and Ange

Kimmi, on the left, invited us all to this club her friend owns. It was a good thing, too, because after spending $60 on just a few drinks at the last bar, I wasn’t keen on payng $15 cover here. And we got free drinks (of course, I found this out after spending another $30…).