Today is a sad day.

Today is say bye bye to our trusty Ford Kuga.

Today is the day we say bye bye to our portable air conditioning unit.

How will we cope??

Adding to this trauma was waking up at 6.00 in Anna's bnb. Again, no black out blinds - will they never learn? And then to be then reawoken at 7.00 when the traffic picked up outside our open window as there was no air con - again, will they never learn??

The day started with, yes you guessed it, a trip to the highest rated local coffee shop. This was in a very unglamorous unit, much like a greasy spoon in the English style. Maybe that's what they are going for?

First up, was our effort to make our hire car respectable, so that we wouldn't be hit with any silly charges (ie for not cleaning off bird poo). To do this, we topped up the fuel at Shell (only $6 worth), and proceeded to use their squeegees and soapy water normally reserved for cleaning the windscreen. We got quite far with this tactic before the Shell man used the tannoy to clear us off!

Having cleaned Kuga, we drove to the nearby North Lakes, which were er... north of Brisbane. This was lovely, if it were not for the oppressive humidity, but we got to see many different lake birds hanging out in this man-made lake. Black swans, funny goose things and little dragon lizards. In fact there were so many lizards, that Alice and I played 'spot the dragon' whilst walking around the lake. Quite what the locals thought as we shouted excitingly (whilst pointing) "DRAGON!!"...



As we had until 16.00 to drop off Kuga, we first went to the local shopping mall, a 'westfield', to procure some more summer clothes. When I say we... It was all Alex. I simply don't have enough light t shirts... It's like I'm used to London's climate or something?

Having bought a couple shirts, we then drove into Brisbane for to drop off Kuga at Hertz. This was without incident, apart from when the Hertz man gave a VERY quick inspection of our car. As we got given the the collection receipt, we said cheerfully, "yes, I've checked your car over". He hadn't. So that was that??

With all our bags in tow now (a lot!), we went for a cheeky nandos to plan. From which we trekked to a place that sells the local public transport electronic card.

Armed with a 'Go Card', we took the 15 min bus ride into the area we're staying... And found a posh gellatoria just 5 mins walk past our new air bnb. Fortuitously, "La Macelleria" is actually one of the highlights of Brisbane, and did indeed serve up some posh gelato. Here we hung out until it was time to check into our new digs.

Arriving at our new air bnb, we discovered that the flat as a whole is air conditioned... Just not our room. And there is no fan. = unhappy campers. If there is no fan by tomorrow, there's going to be a strongly worded review of this place.......

Having a much needed nap, we then investigated the arty part of town for a drink that's really near us, spotting a cool place that served many different beers on dispensing tap. You bought $$ of beer, and then chose your tipple. It was very fun, and the owner was very friendly!

Finally, we got the number 60 bus back home, and that was our day. A long one, certainly... And one that ends with us having no car, and no air con. :-(

AF

P.S.
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