101 – Australia!

Poor thing had no idea what was coming when I landed in Brisbane last night. I spared her the full on mess that I have become until this morning, but now I might end up on the street.
No, seriously, gracious to a fault, Kristin has taken me under her wing and today we planned out at least the next few days of my trip. Today I am getting brief highlights of Brisbane, and tomorrow we are going to Kangaroo Island.
Not just me, we. She is taking time out of her life to go with me, and be my driver, and generally guide me around in what has become one of the busiest times of her life. Her family is coming soon for a visit; her husband is traveling a lot; she is traveling a lot; and they added a move to a new place to the list of things happening all during my visit.
I did not help anything by not having my whole trip planned out, so she stepped up and took that on too, all while putting me up at her home and guiding me around like a lost puppy.
Which is exactly what I am.
Start the chanting and give her a halo. I have raised her to sainthood in the quirky Shenangsters clan.

I will not lie, I am done with travel for now. You might have noted that from the above paragraph. I am not done exploring, or wondering about people or places, but right now, I am done with planning.
I believe if I would have everything planned out before I left, I would be in a better place right now, but we will never know, will we?
I have never been a planner. An obsesser; a dreamer; a thinker yes, but the logistics of making all the stuff I want to do get done is not my forte.
I have a thought to… do anything outside of my comfort zone. I then research all the things I want to do involving that thought. For example, coming to Australia. On this side of the world, might as well drop down and visit Kristin. Then I spend hours to days researching all kinds of things about Australia from politics, to native cultures, to history, to must see sights. And I completely put aside how I might get to any of those places, getting around those places, staying in those places, lining up tours of those places, timing of visit… you get the idea.
In my head I just show up and go. Logistics are not my thing. So, I will give a shout out to my husband who does logistics. All the times I have complained (in my head or when the thoughts escape into the world) about the go-go-go nature of his travel, I will give him credit that he gets us places, we do things, and we do not waste time or a dime in the process. Again, kudos to the man.
Everything on this trip from internet access, even though ‘wifi is everywhere’ to credit card spending limits, to my monumental ignorance when it comes to doing everything online and through aps instead of with phone calls and paper maps… is blatantly evident.
While I’m thinking about converting money, Kristin has tapped her watch to pay and is 3 blocks ahead of me before I open my wallet, and that is just another example of my age.
But I am learning. I am getting better. I do not know how much of this I will incorporate into my daily life because I am not required to incorporate it into my daily life, but… I now have experience.
Kristin has more, and more knowledge, and… I will polish her halo.

Not a lot of pictures today, but my daily doggo needed to be included here because, first he was a very nice dog, and second, I felt like a dog – in a good and wonderful way. Guided around on a lead, looking around and sniffing at things of interest without a care in the world other than someone else was guiding me.
Heaven.
Also, there are… a gazillion dogs here. Yes I exaggerate, but the point is valid. They are everywhere, and they all, or 99% of them are well trained, chill, doggos instead of yippy, barking, snarling, fight me beasts.

So, lack of terriers here. I tease. I love my terriers, but they do tend toward excitable and away from ‘chill.’ And that has nothing to do with their training. Ah hem.

This was something I took note of on our walk around the neighborhood and is important for many reasons. Brisbane had a a cyclone a few weeks ago. That’s hurricane in this part of the world.
I am told the islands just off the coast are what saved them major damage, but they did have damage. Like this tree. It was probably the only visual for me to know there was a cyclone, but I did not know what things looked like before, so there probably was a lot more.
The other reason I noted this tree is because one of the husband’s jobs is cutting down trees, and I thought he would have bought a chainsaw and gone around knocking on doors to offer his services for cleanup in the area. Because he just thinks like that.
But the main reason this tree was vital to my existence in Brisbane, and I hope they never move it, is because it is at the corner we turn at to get from Kristin’s old place to her new place. I mentioned she is moving while I am in country, so we walked from one place to the other, and I made this tree my landmark of where to turn. Which was entirely stupid and screamed my age and relationship to current technologies. And is a wonderful illustration of my point about planning things and getting around in these places.
So, in a week or two when they get around to cleaning up this tree, I will be entirely lost. Or, someone told me about this thing called Map Quest… no… google maps? I don’t remember… Hmmm…

Again, all praise Kristin. Repeatedly and frequently. Hopefully she will let me stick around with her in the 20th century… or… 21’st? I have no idea.