Tuesday - Back to Brisbane
Headed back to Brisbane today, but staying in a less freezing cold hostel this time - City Backpackers. It's actually a very good set-up, it figures as most of the staff are English or Irish. We are staying in a dorm for one night before we meet up with Nik's friend. The dorm is fine, even though we both have top bunks. This is interesting given that a) Hannah is primordial dwarf and b) Nik has had a sore knee and today (after carrying big backpacks) it has escalated into a VERY sore knee.
We decided to get more done in Brisbane this time, and head straight out for a smoothie for breakfast. Then we hit up the Walking Tour from the lonely planet. The trip was fated from the start. The first 'sight' (some nice building or another) we got to, we went to take a picture and the camera (which we only got in march) decided to not work anymore, declaring simply a 'lens error'. Basically the lens wont come out and then it turns itself off. So the camera is broken ON OUR SIGHTSEEING DAY!!!! Regardless, we decided to press on and did see some really lovely old buildings and stuff (we say old, we lived in far older houses back home..) including the botanic gardens. Also we walked through some sort of student event at the university and felt like total imposters. At this point, the 'walking tour' came a cropper in that it told us to get on a FERRY - this does not constitute walking in my book and came at a cost we had not accounted for, and as such the tour had to be abandoned. Also, by this point, Nik now had a full on limp, so a walking tour seemed an increasingly bad idea. We did however potter around the shops a bit. We found a good bookshop and then lost it, but eventually found it again and both got a new book to read - what luxury.
When we got back to the hostel, we found out that we still couldn't go to Nik's friends to stay - now we are going on Thursday, so we had to go and book a room for another night. Luckily, we managed to get a double on the ground floor as Nik's knee is causing a real struggle now.
Later on, back at the hostel, we went for a drink in the bar and as usual the only nutter in the place comes and sits with us. Some drunk old dude rocked up and started insulting the Malaysian girl sat opposite us and then engaged us in conversation, telling Hannah she should cut her hair and then welling up and talking about how his mother was dying - great. He eventually sloped off, apparently to get some money, and we had a nice chat with Ray, the girl from Malaysia for a while. We then attempted to get food, but despite it being 7pm, the chef had gone. Unfortunately, where our hostel is happens to be quite far from anywhere else to get food, so we had a slow hobble down the road until we found the nearest pub and stopped there for a ten buck burger - health goes out the window at desperate times such as these.
Headed back to the hostel and were the only ones home in our dorm, so had a slide show of our pictures so far - RIP camera. We went to bed, and then at about midnight, the person below Hannah rocked up. This then made Hannah awake and she realised she wasn't feeling well and made a dash (including perfect bunk bed dismount) for the bathroom. After a couple of trips back and forth, Nik awoke to see Hannah spinning around in the room and then plonking herself on the floor, in her defence she was looking for the water. Despite his gammy leg, he hurled himself out of bed, retrieved the water and took Hannah outside to sit down and recover from her diarrhea and vomiting episode - nice. Luckily, after eventually returning to bed, she wasn't ill anymore, but Nik had a bit of a night of it with his knee, the grunting, snotting man in the bunk below him, and the couple in the room making loads of noise when they got in at 3am.
Wednesday
Nik's leg is bad. Like properly swollen. Oh dear. We had to move rooms, so Hannah had to do some heroic bag carrying, despite having barely recovered from her D&V ordeal the previous night. Once we'd moved rooms, Nik was in a bad way, so Hannah went out on a mission to get supplies. It was hot outside and Hannah couldn't work out (with her limited eyesight and general panic) how to get to the nearby supermarket, so instead had to walk to the Brisbane CBD/Queen Street Mall area yet again. However, after more than an hour, she returned with drugs, a knee brace and a bag of food supplies for the day. Some powerade had to be consumed instantly so she didn't pass out. Immediately following the consumption of breakfast and beverages, we both then fell asleep until about 4pm. Oops.
Once we dragged ourselves up out of bed and got showered, we went and used the internet to do some campervan research. We are very behind on our schedule due to all the messing about waiting for Nik's friend to come back, and it turns out it's now Friday he'll be back. Being behind on the schedule bothers Hannah a lot. We didn't get very far with the campervans. But we did have fruit toast (gluten, wheat and yeast free) and butter and despite it being special bread it was delicious. Its nice over here as the 'special' foods are often in the normal sections and aren't massively more expensive. We also researched on the internet what we would have to do if Nik's knee gets any worse ie the logistics of seeing a doc over here - doesn't hurt to be prepared.
Used some tokens to get a cheaper dinner. Hannah had a jacket potato (finally - thank you!) with chicken stew and Nik had a pasta and meat and salad thing. Despite it being karaoke night in the bar, we retired early on to elevate Nik's leg and ate marshmallows in bed watching some Eurovision and Superbad to keep spirits up.
Thursday
So, although we have managed to make the swelling go down, Nik's knee is getting more painful. He has attributed this to a slip while playing tennis at Randy's a few days back. As such, we got up early and had the remaining fruit toast for breakfast before taking a very slow walk down to town to go register Nik with Medicare so he can get in to see a doctor. While we were down there, we also had a look about at cameras, and discovered they are much cheaper here so although it's a pain that we have to get one, at least it won't break the bank too much.
Took a slow walk back to the hostel, with rest stops as needed en route, and spent some time doing some better campervan research, although if Nik's knee isn't better he won't be able to drive. And obviously with Hannah's driving disability, this may be an issue. Although it turns out we have to hang around in Brisbane until at least Monday now so Nik can collect his Medicare details as the office we have to go to is not open on weekends - argh! It was at this point that Nik realised he could in fact see a doctor before his Medicare enrolment was completed and we would just have to pay for the treatment and prescription in full and then claim it back afterwards once his registration was done - doh!
So after doing some contingency plan research into the next leg of our trip (which as it turns out, we can't afford to do unless the leg starts working and we can go by van) we headed to the doctors. Or at least we tried to. The nearby doctors in the local listings when we got there was now a dentist and hadn't been a doctor for two years! This meant a longer and more arduous walk for Nik to the next doctors away. We got there and they had no appointments and sent us to the next doctors. We got there, and it was pretty much where we had already been that morning - poor Nik's leg had walked twice the distance for no reason at all. However, luckily we were able to get Nik in to see a doctor after not too much of a wait (it went fast, we were watching Days of Our Lives on the TV). He was a comedy doctor and made lots of amusing quips, but best of all, prescribed Nik some of the 'good stuff' super painkillers, some crutches and a couple of day's rest. We collected the crutches and drug stash - despite not doing much today its been an expensive one with all the medical fees!
We walked back to the hostel, well Nik swung on crutches most of the way. As it is uphill, it was pretty tricky for him but on the plus side, is a good workout for the arms and chest. Plus, we stopped half way for a cornetto as they were on offer at 7 Eleven for a dollar today - amazing.
Had a quiet evening with some meal deal dinners in the bar at the hostel and some laptop viewing. Nik is starting the drugs tonight, so we're interested to see what happens. Fingers (and everything else) crossed that Nik's friend meets us tomorrow as planned as otherwise its going to be Hannah Two Backpacks heading down to the transit centre and trying to get on a bus to somewhere!
Friday
So, in good news, the drugs are hilarious. When Nik takes them he inevitably keels over laughing and talks nonsense for at least one hour. This makes the bad leg easier to deal with.
The bad news is that we are in the hostel for another night as Nik's friend still isn't back so we can't get Nik's credit card (which is at his house) and get going yet.
Had a restful day at the hostel instead. Nik is actually reading a book which is different, and we have lots of random downloads to watch, including a hilarious self defense system video.
We also befriended the grumpy chef at the hostel and now we like him. He had a bad leg and the operation out here costs $20k, so we are hoping Nik's leg gets better very soon! He gave us a tasty dinner of bangers and mash. Nik is strictly on the soft drinks on the orders of Dr Skarr (what a great name - if only he was a cosmetic surgeon).
Saturday
This weekend is Christmas in July in Queensland. Apparently this is because it is winter so all the expats celebrate xmas today. It is an interesting concept as we are still in T- shirts.
Anyway, we moved out our room, only to not have Nik's friend show up again. Hopefully he is arranging for a friend to drop off Nik's bank stuff so that after the weekend we can leave Brisbane (we have to be here til Monday in order to try and claim back some of the medical fees incurred by Nik's gammy leg).
As Nik remains on rest, we are pottering at the hostel for another day. Although, when Hannah was on strike doing nothing yesterday, she accidentally did some thinking and has devised an excellent bad leg friendly plan which if we get a move on, should still allow us to see some big city sights, the great ocean road, wine country and uluru and at only a smidge more of an expense (a small price to pay compared to having to come back to Australia another time to see the bits on our plan that we missed!!)
The new plan is:
- get Nik's bank stuff so our cash flow is restored
- fly to Melbourne on Tues/Weds on a cheapo flight
- do some Melbourney stuff that doesn't take too much walking allowing the leg time to heal completely
- get a campervan on the 1st August and drive (with newly healed leg) - taking in the Great Ocean Road and wine country before arriving in Adelaide
- drive from Adelaide up the country to Uluru, then to Alice Springs
- get a plane from Alice to Sydney, where we will spend our final few days
Fingers crossed cash flow is restored and crutches are soon abandoned so the plan works out as it would suck to miss the inland bit - we're kind of sick of being stuck in a hostel in Brisbane, even though the hostel have been fantastic and even kept a room back for us just in case we didn't leave today.
Today, we will mill around the hostel on leg rest some more, have a cheapo meal deal dinner in preparation for potentially walking somewhere nearby tomorrow for a change of scenery.