If you don't look too closely, you might think we are living by the Burrard St. Bridge in Vancouver. Looks kinda similar.
We had a few hours before Cyp had to go to work, so he gave me a transit card and explained the lay of the land before he headed out. They have ferries here (kinda like the aquabus in Vancouver) but they are part of Translink (I wonder who came up with the name first). They use something called a go card. You touch it to a machine when you get on the bus/ferry and must remember to touch it when you get off, otherwise it thinks you are cruising on transit all day. It is good for buses, ferries or citycats (catamarans not unlike the seabus)
So - I slowly got ready - sunscreened the kids, packed the diaper bag and got ready to go out. Just as I was leaving I looked at the keys I had been left - there only seemed to be one. Hmmm. How to get into the secured building - is it a smart key? I propped the building door open with stroller to check - nope - key didn't work on that door.
I went back inside and loaded up with more supplies as it looked like we would be out till Cyp got back to work. We headed out.
We walked about 100 metres and found a playground - hooray. Ellis played on it for about two seconds. There were 4 other kids there (5 and under) seeming to belong to one woman. Yup - they all called her mom. She was younger and more put together than me. Hmmm. I asked her if there were any shops near by and she said she didn't know as she didn't live in the area - wonder where she came from? I didn't see any people movers (minivans) parked nearby.
So we struck off again and hit the ferry terminal (another 100 metres) and ran up and down the ramp a few times. Asked the ferry that pulled up if it was going to Sydney St? "nope, said the driver - Eagle St." It clearly said that on the ferry, but he was quite pleasant.
"you'll know the Sydney St. ferry by it's size - it's bigger, two levels and it goes the other way"
"Thanks" I said. I watched him pull away and cross to downtown. About 5 minutes later a big ferry was heading towards us. We went down the ramp to catch it.
It was the same ferry driver. It seemed like he had gone back to get the bigger ferry. Also seemed like we were the only ones traveling that day.
We got off the ferry and I asked a nearby woman if the new farm park was nearby - She said
"go straight up this street to Brunswick and turn left and you'll find the shops"
I hadn't asked about shops but that was good info to know.
We hiked up Sydney St - came to some road painting. It was all blocked off - even the sidewalk. I paused for minute - looked left and right and decided to go right.
The flagwoman chased me down the street - "you can go this way - I just have it marked off so people don't go on the paint"
People are friendly and helpful here it seems.
We got to Brunswick St. There was a fish and chip shop on the corner. Ah, it was pretty much lunchtime and we had walked pretty far.
So I got the fish and chips - it was really good and only $6. You did have to pay $1 for ketchup mind you. I decided to forgo it.
It was really yummy. Decided I wanted to move to New Farm.
The park was across the street - Cyp had told me it was Brisbane's Stanley Park. Hmm. I thought as I looked at what was basically an empty field (apparently, I missed the nice part).
We sat in the park for minute, chased some birds (their crows seem to be black and white) and then headed for the library. Library didn't open till noon so we went back to the park. Ellis found another water pipe (he's obsessed with water fountains - the drinking kind).
He played with that for a while till I got annoyed and then we headed back to the library and waited there. It was a good library - they had Mr. Men books.
Then we found the shops - Coles. Felt like I walked into Safeway. Things didn't seem too expensive, but it was hard to judge as everything was in prices per kg. I know we're metric in Canada, but our veggies still seem to be priced in pounds.
Ellis ran around the aisles like he usually does and I got a few looks. There didn't seem to be any other kids in the store.
$90 later (what did I buy? Dinner for that night?) we were out of there.
We walked sloooooowly back to the ferry. Ellis dawdled and picked up sticks, rocks, bugs etc. At one point he was about 20 feet back as a woman walked by me. She looked at me funny and then Ellis said "ouch"
"oh - you must watch out for the ants here - did an ant bite you"
"yes", squeaked Ellis
She then told me that the ants here have quite a stinging bite. Ellis didn't seem to be that upset, so I think he was ok. He stuck closer to me after that and as we continued walking I was more paranoid. There was a rattling in the bushes a little further along - that got me going!
We caught the ferry home and decided to check out our new pool. Cyp had downplayed it - but is great (a tad chilly). You should have seen the look on Rowan's face when he saw it - he was ecstatic.
After that I made dinner - overcooked fried chicken thighs (It took me 10 minutes to figure out SMEG (the oven) only to discover there were no roasting pans. I marinated chicken in some dip I had picked up (as that is all I had).
When Cyp got home I whined "we have no wine" so he ran to the pub and picked up the cheapest bottle - $8. It was good.
Immediately after dinner, it was story time (7 pm). Ellis fell alseep during stories (and so did Rowan and I). We didn't wake up until 4 am the next day.
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