Day 13 - Last Day in Brisbane

Have you ever had one of those days where you don't have anything really planned and let the day just take it's course? Today was that kind of day for us. For starters, we slept in. Yes, just got up whenever we felt like it. I think it was nearly 9:00 AM when my feet hit the floor for the day - which seems kinda late - but hey - we are on vacation. And I know that there are days coming that we will simply not be able to do that. Like tomorrow for example.

Today is our last full day in Brisbane and tomorrow will be an early start. We will need to leave the hotel at 7:30 AM so that we can fill the rental car with petrol, drive to the airport (return the vehicle) and then board a flight to Cairns. In Cairns we will meet up again with Steve and Margaret (who you will have met from previous blog posts if you have been following along), and also catch up with, for the first time, Alf and Di. They will be joining us a few days later and we are all looking forward to being together. 

Breakfast consisted of the items that we had purchased a few days ago at the grocery store. We then waited in our room to do a video call with our granddaughter (and here parents - but we know who get's the most attention). That was fun. The first thing she asked about was Mama, the toy that we brought with us and have been taking photos of and sending them back to the grandkids. The time change makes these calls a little more challenging. It was just before lunch when we chatted and for her it was close to bed time. 

Once the call was done, we made our way to the area by our hotel.  It's downtown, so there are all kinds of shops and places to eat nearby. Laureen found a place to get her nails filled, and asked me if I wanted to join her.  Not for a nail fill, but for a manicure. I've never done that before, so I agreed.  I mean, I'm on vacation right? She had called and booked an appointment for 1:30 PM at this place that was located in a nearby shopping centre - walking distance from our hotel. Making the call was an interesting adventure by itself. 

Laureen had tried to call a couple of local numbers previously, but none of the calls ever went through. She had put in the country code, and then the number, but it just made a funny beeping noise and then a voice came on saying that the call could not be completed. This morning she tried again and received the same result. So, I opened my mac and started searching on how to do this. What we were not aware of is the requirement for the "+" at the beginning of the number; we've never had to do that before. Once we figured out to hold the zero down for a second, the plus sign appeared and then after typing the rest of the number, the call went through. 

She found this place by looking up nail places on Google Maps and then looking at the reviews.  There are lots of places around, and some of them are not rated very well. The one we chose had good ratings and were able to do the "powder" fill that Laureen required. So, we looked around the shopping centre to find where it was situated and then made our way back to the food court to find a place for lunch.  

We stumbled across this placed called Beach House Bar and Grill near the food court in the mall. Laureen had the Cesar Salad and I had the BLT. This is the second restaurant that we have been to in the last two days that has this "low contact" kind of ordering process (the other was the Sandbar Surfers Paradise that we visited last night). At the table is a QR code that you scan with your phone which brings up a web-based application with the menu for the establishment and the table number that you are sitting at.  You make all your selections (including drinks), view your order and then pay for your meal.  No waiter required. The first real visit you get to your table is someone bringing you the drinks that you just ordered using your phone. Then your meal shows up. What an interesting concept. I also was not prompted for a tip.  I have not seen that very much here in Australia - and I have to admit that I like it that way.  A tip is for service over and above - not just an expectation (maybe I'm getting old). 

The next stop was Rainbow Nails. We walked in a little earlier than our appointment, and one of the girls approached Laureen right away and showed us to a couple of chairs.  This was going to be a first for me as I've never had a manicure before. I used to bite my nails and it wasn't until our trip to Africa that I stopped.  Yes, just stopped.  After more than 50 years of biting my nails, I no longer chewed them. It's funny how you can just come to a realization about something and then it be resolved. 

As a result of this, I had to start cutting my nails - something which I did not need to do for a very long time.  It's a bit of a pain to have another job to do every week or two.  Maybe I should just go back to chewing them. Or not.  Anyway, I sat down and a lady came over and put my hand in some liquid.  I immediately thought of Madge and the Palmolive commercial: "Your soaking in it". Ya, from the 70's. She then started to cut my nails, push back my cuticles and then remove the hard skin around my nails. I even got a bit of a hand massage as part of the process.

As she was finishing up, she asked me if I was getting a pedicure as well. I had not intended to do that, but upon her gentle prodding, and the coaxing of my wife who was sitting right beside me, I agreed. I was then asked to move to a massaging pedicure chair.  She kept having to move it back (I think it went back as far as it could) so that I could fit in it. She turned on the massage part of the chair and then had me put my feet in the water. This is quite the process. After cutting my toe nails she also use some tools to remove skin and such from around the area. Again, this was all new to me. I also got a bit of a leg scrub/massage and she took a sanding block to my heals. That was quite the experience. 

Laureen Getting her Nails Done

Curt's First Manicure

The Poor Lady Working on Curt's Feet

I was finished before Laureen, so I went for a short walk outside on the same level of the mall we were on until Laureen was done. We both tipped our girls and they seemed very appreciative. Like I said, a tip is for over and above - and if you knew my feet - this was WAY over and above.

From there we wandered around Target and Kmart in the mall (yes, they have both of those here), to pick up a few things. I wanted another toothbrush as the travel one I brought wasn't very good.  I'll keep that one in my carry-on just in case - but use this new one from my checked bag. We also bought some shoe deodorizer for both of our runners. As a result of the rain and dampness from yesterday, our shoes were, how shall I put it, less than desirable on the smell front.  Not enough to put a film on your glasses or anything (lol - see a few previous blogs ago), but enough to want to do something about it.  I also picked up a toothbrush thermos for the new fang cleaner.

From there we decided to go for a drive.  Laureen wanted to find a Big W, which, as it turns out, is like the Walmart's back home. The chain is owned by the Woolworth group, out of New Zealand. The drive took about 30 minutes, and we had to round that same corner we have been around 3 times now since we have been here.  It's a two lane left-hand-turn and then there is an immediate (within about 15 metres) ramp or roadway.  If you are not in the right one, chances of getting over to the next lane is slim.  Trust me. I've done it three times now and I've been wrong every time. What that means is a bit of a "turn around up ahead and come back the way you were supposed to be going" thing. Sigh.

We made it to the next shopping location and made our way into the parkade. It took a bit to find the entrance to the mall as this was a rather larger parkade. Once inside, we wandered around for a while inside the Big W and a few other stores. We decided to try and find the card game "Rook", and if we could get our hands on a deck, buy them so we could bring them to Cairns and share the game with our Aussie family (we taught Steve and Margaret how to play when staying at their place using a regular deck of cards). Unfortunately we were not successful in finding it and after being here for about an hour and a half, we decided to move on. There was only one issue - we walked around so much that we forgot where we came into the mall. LOL.  I had to bring up my Google Maps timeline to see if it gave me any clues as to where we might have started.  It worked, and got us back to where we recognized the parking entrance.  Whew!

It was too early to go for dinner, so we decided to try and find a ritzy neighbourhood in Brisbane and drive around to look at the expensive houses. We have done this in many of the places we have visited. With a quick google search, we found ourselves heading for Teneriffe. This is when we noticed something interesting about the roads here in Brisbane (not sure if it's like this Richmond/Sydney). When I came around a corner (remember, I'm driving on the opposite side of the road than I'm used to, sitting on the opposite side of the car than I'm used to) I wasn't sure if the road was a one way or not, so I looked for the yellow line separating the two directions of traffic.  However, the lines separating traffic going opposite directions are not yellow in Brisbane. They are white.  Just like the lines that separate traffic going the same direction.  Um.... I quickly noticed that there were cars parked the opposite way, so this must be a two way traffic road. Later we noticed that there are yellow reflectors that can delineate opposite traffic - but it's not obvious.  

We tried to find some fancy houses in Teneriffe once we arrived there, but really couldn't see very much.  Lot's of apartments though.

It was time to find a place for dinner, so we pulled over and started to search.  We agreed on an Italian place that was not too far from where we were and a little closer to getting us back to the hotel.  It was called, Cucina by La Dolce Vita and the food was very good.  The portions were smaller, but given how much we've been eating, that is not a bad thing. I added a glass Australian Cabernet Merlot to our shared Calamari and Ravioli. Mmmm.

A quick 12 minute drive back to the hotel so we could do some packing and get ready for the early start tomorrow. Brisbane was fun, but looking forward to Cairns and the next chapter of this vacation story.

Curt and Laureen in Brisbane, Australia.