We didn't get a Thursday

We took off from Eugene on Wednesday, and landed in Brisbane “Brizbin” on Friday. Where did Thrusday go?
There are times when it becomes necessary to do a little reverse manifesting. The long plane ride was one of those times. I told myself that it was to be a very long and uncomfortable time; that I would hate it and would just have to deal with it. It’s the longest time I’ve ever been on a plane and as it turns out, I slept most of those twelve and a half hours. Once I even noticed we had four hours left and I thought, “Dang! I need to start watching movies!” Since we requested vegetarian meals we were served both our dinner and breakfast ten minutes before our neighbours on the plane. We also seemed to luck out with our seating arrangement. I heard the flight attendants continue telling passengers that it was a full flight; however no one was in the seat next to me. Thank goodness because I was in the middle row, middle seat. Daniel was at the aisle seat to my left, an empty chair to my right, followed by a young lady sitting at the other aisle. The plane was also packed full of infants and toddlers - always a cringe worthy observation - who were well behaved and sat far enough away from us that when they did cry, it didn’t seem as if they were in my ear.
Australian customs was a pleasant enough experience. They checked our bags by lining them up in a row and let the cutest beagle dog sniff at them. I wanted to talk to him and give him a small pat, yet refrained. In our taxi on the way to our hotel I saw a seagull and the bird made me feel calm. The first time I travelled overseas we landed in Amsterdam and out the plane window a large crane seemed to be flying along next to us. I watched its long legs stretch out and make contact with the ground and it gave me a sense of being safe. Forever more on our world travels, bird sightings immediately help me settle and reconfigure.
Showering was first on our list. When I finished I came out into our room to find Daniel had closed the curtains and was taking a nap. So I laid down on the bed next to him and closed my eyes. After our power nap we set out to explore our new home. Even though I knew how hot it was outside my mind was reminding me to bring a sweater. I did not listen to my mind; dieu merci. It was beautiful outside. Every once in a while a great formation of clouds would cover the sky and give us some much appreciated reprieve from the sunshine. We walked over the Victoria Bridge and into West End to inspect our first apartment. There was half an hour before our appointment time so we decided to strut through the neighbouring lanes. West End is a fantastic part of the city filled with small shops lining the roads and friendly people milling around, some without shoes. We purchased a map and a mango smoothie before heading back up Little Jane Street to see a potential new home. At the apartment complex we decided to walk around the grounds where we passed a web fitted with a spider. I looked at the grey beast, thinking, “Okay, that’s not so bad.” Next, we rounded the corner of the building where I was there confronted by a spider that could nicely fit into the palm of my hand. My first thought was a string of swear words, but instead I meekly said to Daniel, “Oh no, look.” I’m not going to tell you all the spider stories, suffice it to say, I had at least two mild cardiac infarctions that first day. I expect more shall come.
Brisbane is full of parks. The parks are vast and varied. One is called “Jungle Park” where it is chalk full of tropical plants and trees and you cross wooden bridges to make it to the other side. One park, and possibly my favourite so far, is a beach next to the river. A man made ocean front with white sand and fresh water. We stumbled upon it on the way to our next apartment inspection. Neither Daniel nor myself could resist kicking off our shoes and wading into the blue pool. Since it was a Friday it was virtually empty. We saw it again the next day filled up with families and friends.
Kangaroo point is a place we have both decided is not worth its cute name. It is mostly made up of apartment complexes and big business buildings. We looked into three apartments there the first day and were dropped off at the tip by a nice man called Stewart to look at two more. Stewart works for an agency that leases some of the places we saw. He very graciously gave us a lift in his fancy car from place to place while offering advice on where else we could look for a home to live in. I was rather fatigued when he finally let us out. Unfortunately we were very far from our hotel. And then it began to rain. We walked along the river through the sprinkling of water, mildly cranky, but at least Daniel knew how to get us back. My feet were suffering from blisters – before we left Oregon, I could not find my flip flops – and when we reached a footbridge Daniel told me to just take my shoes off. We both walked barefoot across the Goodwill Bridge and talked about our day. We’d seen and taken photos of amazing trees, birds, parks, rock climbers, and a huge lizard.
When we arrived back at our hotel we took our laptops to the restaurant floor where they provide 30 minutes of free internet. At 6p.m. they were offering a five dollar pizza with purchase of a drink, so Daniel ordered a Queensland beer “XXXX” or “Four X” and I had a glass of red wine. Back in our room we did our best to stay awake, finally falling asleep before ten. There wasn’t a real sense of jet lag.