A Fun Weekend in Brisbane | The Travel Diaries

You may remember in my last post I said it was Jack's birthday on Monday just gone. We went into Toowoomba to try and have a nice meal for his birthday but everything was shut so instead we decided we'd go and watch the Wallabies first test match against France at Suncorp Stadium. As such we made a little trip back to Brisbane, or Brissy (as we've annoyingly picked up the Australian habit of shortening every word possible).

I really like Brisbane. It's a nice city, good shops, bars and restaurants but with areas like South Bank it means you don't always feel surrounded by the business of a city. It's a good thing.

So Jack and I did the four hour trip back to Brissy on Saturday morning with the accompaniment of a 2 litre bottle of Solo - the best fizzy lemon drink known to man but apparently not available in the UK, and a packet of salted Smith's aka Walkers ready salted. It's a long, pretty boring drive as Austalian roads a just very long and straight with a not a whole lot going on around. The most exciting part of the drive is a very steep hill coming out of Toowoomba headed to Brisbane and the views from there are pretty good.

Connor cooked us sausage sandwiches and luke warm beans on arrival which was lovely of him as we've found out Connor's cooking skills can be a bit hit and miss but this time I'd say they were a bit. Much to Jacks disapproval I dragged him to a shopping centre to buy new jeans as the only pair I bought with me are covered in horse gait due to spending most of the last week washing dishier raj from a horses rear end. After the debarcle of hunting for a decent pair of womens jeans and having a wee hissy fit because I couldn't find any I liked (I found some don't worry) we could actually start the weekend.

The rugby was really good at the stadium and atmosphere was amazing. It was my first time watching a rugby game not stood on the side line at our local rugby club so it was a new, but very enjoyable, experience for me. Jack's pretty adapted to the whole going to a live rugby match thing and has the getting through the crowds element down to a fine art so I was happy to follow and take it all in. A good game of rugby is definitely a good way to start a good night.

Of course we met with Connor and Laura after the game for drinks. No they're not alcoholics. And of course, as it was Jack's birthday on Monday a couple of drinks turned into a few drinks and a few drinks turned into a lot of drinks and by 2am we were in an all night pancake house Jack ploughing through steak and chips, Connor with a chicken burger and me and Laura on blueberry waffles/pancakes. The hour walk back from the city to Connors flat was not an enjoyable one despite being full up on amazing pancakes.

Sunday was just a chill/ driving day. Macca's for lunch (there's that annoying shortening habit again), the weekly food shop and then that four hour long drive back, but this time accompanied by chocolate and banana milkshakes, Starburst fruit gums and supreme cheese Doritos. 

So now back to reality. Farm work again this morning. Last night we did nothing but chat with Steve and Yo, skype my family and Jack went out shooting. So overall a pretty eventful weekend. 

3 weeks in | Travel Diaries

Current location: On the road from Toowoombah to Goondiwindi

It's been a while huh? I've been doing the Australia thing for nearly four weeks now and it's fair to say it's been rather busy and hectic pretty much the second from landing.

The first weeks was the most chilled of them all so far. After Jack met me at the airport we did a bit of exploring around Brisbane City and reaffirmed that Jack doesn't like crowds and my sense of direction is about as good as a goldfishes memory. Southbank was my favourite part of Brisbane but the museum was a pretty good way to spend a morning. 

Whilst in Brisbane we also journeyed up to the Sunshine Coast to the aquarium and for the gorgeous Noosa beaches. Noosa being high on my list for places to go back to already. We also enjoyed a meal out as we decided we deserved a treat after a three hour drive along one very straight, boring road to get to Noosa.

Connor and Laura introduced us (well me) to Aussie drinking antics and the Gold Coast. Both greatly enjoyed and, as I keep telling Jack, I want to go back to Gold Coast because those beaches are just dreamy. I'm missing the sea by the way.

We also won ourselves a job within two days of me arriving which is a definite success for the books. Apparently selling yourself on gumtree isn't as weird as it sounds and can actually be quite useful. So we're now heading into our third week of farm life near a little village called Toobeah, and when I say little I'm talking a population of 7 with a pub and corner shop to it's name. But it's near a bigger (but not much bigger) town called Goondiwindi, yes it's said as it's spelled, and me and Jack tend to spend Saturday mornings there doing our weekly food shop and seeing what we can find. We ended up in New South Wales on Saturday so at least I can say I've been there now even if it was a very brief encounter. 

The farm and the people are lovely though. We've been doing lots of exciting things, cattle herding, fence constructing, tractor driving (Jack not me), dead wallaby fishing and lots of other little things. We're really enjoying our time here and are having lots of fun. 

We're currently driving back from Toowoomba to Goondiwindi to get home after a quick, unsuccessful wander  around Toowoomba. Unsuccessful considering the 3 hour drive to get there and the fact we were intends on grabbing dinner. To celebrate Jacks birthday, but plans were scuppered, because everything, yes everything, was shut.

So we're heading home for burgers, ice cream and a movie in bed. 

Until next time, hopefully not another 3 weeks away. 

Don't forget to follow my Instagram @emilyjarvis93 for more regular updates and views of my Aussie life