So good to be met in Victoria by dear friends, Frances and Hugh! Also so good to feel nary a tremble of the 7.7 earthquake that happened that same night, a little north of Victoria.
After much too short a visit, we left by Pacific Coach Lines to go right from Victoria across on the ferry to the airport. Seemed easy and simple but ....
My bag arrived with the bus, but not Jock's. Not only was it missing but also no one at PCL seemed to care. We called VISA to report the loss but nothing really can be done until we're back home.
To Dallas-Fort Worth for a couple of hours. We passed the time wandering the airport, trying to find an internet connection. None.
Later, 17 flying hours later, Jock realized that he'd left the power cord for his tablet somewhere in DFW (we're getting really good at airport codes). What I am writing now is one of the very last bits of attention this _________________ tablet will get here, or maybe anywhere. Big mistake to bring it along as our only computer - Jock is out buying another one - a real one - right now.
We arrived at our hotel in Brisbane at 6.00 AM. Rainbow lorikeets wheeled overhead and jostled noisily in the nearby eucalypts. It's spring and the males are certainly thinking amorous thoughts though, as always, it seems, the females are much more interested in eating than mating.
We walked a few blocks to an enormous shopping center where shopped until we almost dropped, trying to replace all of Jock's lost belongings, including a suitcase. Some of the losses are irreplaceable, though, such as our first Australian bird book where we noted the birds sited and where. Those notations of our previous trips here are gone forever and it hurts to know that the thief likely just pitched the book in the garbage.
It was a good morning's work and Jock left here a new man, or at least a newly-clothed man. We'll try to replace the remaining few things that went missing as we do our big shop for the start of our campervan holiday, tomorrow.
It's thundering and raining here in Queensland, the Sunshine State, so I'm not sure what vibes we've brought with us. I do hope this is merely a gift of rain to a country that desperately needs rain most of the time.
Oh my, what a start to this Oz adventure. Glad to see that your sense of humour was not lost along with Jock's suitcase. Hopefully the suitcase will show up later.
ReplyDeleteAnxiously awaiting your next post.