Going Down Under!

About a year ago Will traveled to Brisbane, Australia for work. For reasons I won't go into on the blog (we'd be happy to tell you personally!), Will had to go check on some pongamia trees with his co-workers. Unfortunately for Will he really didn't get to do much exploring, just working. But ever since then, we knew a trip to Australia for both of us was a real potential. When the prospect of a work trip in January came up, we knew we had to jump on the chance. It was perfect timing to coincide with my winter break, and thanks to Will's traveling he'd built up enough frequent flyer miles to take me with him for free! (Thanks hubby!) It's hard when he's away traveling, but this is one of the rewards of going through all that. So back in September we started our brainstorming, and by October it was official! We were going to Australia!

Will set up his travels so that he would need to do a little work in Brisbane for a couple days before we headed down to Sydney for a true, 100% vacation! (When was the last time THAT happened? No work, no obligations, no nothing!) I didn't mind tagging along for a couple days of work because it meant I got to do something I never thought would ever, ever, happen . . . but you'll have to wait for the next entry to read about that.

Will and I left Honolulu in the afternoon of Wednesday, December 21st. When we arrived it was 9pm on Thursday, December 22nd. Hello time travel! We picked up our rental car as the shop closed down, headed to the hotel, and crashed.

On Friday, Will and I set off for breakfast. We got bagel sandwiches and flat whites (a popular type of latte in Australia) and ate outside of City Hall.

Smellie's Hardware : )

This Ibis came to join us. Although I think he just wanted our bagels! These guys are all over, kind of like pigeons!

After breakfast we traded in our USD for AUD, which was a great deal. 76 cents bought us 1 AUD. That's essentially 25% off everything!

Then it was time for Will to get to work and go check on his trees. I stayed in the Central Business District and walked all over the place. I stopped in at Australian Target which is such a disappointment. It was like a horrible Kmart. Seriously, it shouldn't even exist. I went through some overpriced clothing stores that were located down the way from a store that was like stepping into the cardboard box of Fendis in the back of a white van in NYC. In general I was disappointed with the shopping Australia offered. I stopped for coffee at Atomic Coffee, a location featured in the next Thor movie! I walked through a beautiful botanical garden, scoped out dinner locations, and went back to the hotel for a little relaxation. It was pretty overcast and chilly, so sitting at the pool wasn't as pleasant as I had hoped. I retreated to the room to rest and then got ready for our first date night!

Inside the Brisbane Visitor's Center

The Brisbane Bridge and River

Our Hotel - The Stamford Plaza

The view of the river from our room

Will got home around 5, showered up, and we were on our way. Before we went to dinner we cashed in on our free drink tickets at the hotel bar.

Our first drinks in Australia!

We strolled along the waterfront and after scoping out a variety of scenes, we decided on "Jellyfish," a seafood restaurant along the Brisbane River. We ate delicious fish for dinner, and drank refreshing wine in a glass with a jellyfish etched on the bottom of the glass which made it look like it was swimming in the wine! It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen, so I asked our very friendly waitress if I could buy one. She said she'd never been asked that question before but would look in to it. Apparently I'm the first one to ever ask for one! Really?! It's like the coolest thing ever! So they sold me a jellyfish wineglass and the next stop for us became the hotel to keep it safe! As Will and I are brainstorming how the heck we're going to get this thing back to Honolulu in one piece we walk past an office building that's unloading some type of shipment, and in the lobby are massive piles of bubble wrap. Halfway joking I suggest that we could use some of it to wrap up the jelly, and Will decides he'll go in and ask! So at 8pm on a Friday night Will walks into a closed up office building and asks the guy for bubble wrap. With a little bit of confusion, he laughs and tells Will to take it all! So Will scoops up an armful and we take it back to the hotel. Turns out it was the best serendipity ever because it kept the jelly safe all the way to Sydney, and then to Honolulu. And I am now the proud owner of an amazing jellyfish wine glass. (See the jelly on the bottom?)

The night was still young, so it was off to a "German" pub that Will once went to with his coworkers. We went to get in and the guy at the door said, "no flip flops!" So we went back to the hotel for Will to change his shoes, then finally back to the pub! (Good thing our hotel was only two and a half blocks away.)

Pretending we're in Germany with his and hers sized mugs.

We had a little life left in us so we decided to take a peek in a whisky bar that was across the street from our hotel. Turns out the current owner just recently bought it from the previous owner and was starting to turn it in to quite the collection of whisky. He made me a tasty old fashioned and Will sampled lots of really fancy whisky. Will especially had a great time talking with the owner and his barkeep about the drinks. I didn't get most of it but they seemed to be having a grand 'ol time! They were so generous though to share the sample pours in addition to mini bottles and whisky infused jellies to take home! What an amazing first night in Australia!