I think I need a holiday to recover
from my amazing Brisbane holiday Extravaganza! Don't get me wrong, I
feel quite refreshed and energised, but it was an intense couple of
weeks. I was expecting leisurely days under trees just me and a good
book (or my laptop), what I got was madness. Joyous, staggering,
undeniable, non-stopping madness!
There were very few moments of peace
and quiet and some days it seemed like everyone was clamouring for
our attention. Mr Saunders and myself have never felt so popular. The
downside to this of course was the overwhelming (albeit at times self
imposed) pressure to give up things we really wanted to do, or time
we wanted to spend alone to see everyone who desperately wanted to
catch up. We didn't get to catch up with everyone and Truly we are
sorry, but there are only so many hours in two weeks and we used
every single one of them!
We began our holiday by going to Imbil and saying goodbye to Mr Saunders' stepfather, a truly amazing man.
Alan will be sincerely missed by everyone who knew him, being able to
see his memorial stone out in the forest on his favourite corner of
the rally track was a touching moment that will stay with me for the
rest of my life.
After the quiet and reflective weekend
the Catching up began, not just with friends and family, there are
places in Brisbane that mean a lot to Mr Saunders and myself, places
we went together on dates as well as places we had never seen
together before. There was shopping to be done and glorious food to
be had, as much as I like Mt Isa it is not a town that offers the
culinary or fashion choices of bigger city.
It seemed every day was a fast paced
reckoning, a race to get as much in as possible, by the end of our
first week we knew there was no possible way we could fit everything
we wanted in and the sacrifices began.
We didn't want to seem
ungrateful or rude but it was just not practical to afford every
person we knew an individual time to catch up with us. Some people
may think it is rude that we did not chase them down and pinpoint
precise times to catch up personally and at their convenience but if
we allowed ourselves to work around everyone else's availability we
would have gotten even less time to enjoy the sights. As it was we
wasted a few days waiting for people who didn't make it to meet us at
the time they said they would.
Rather then dwell on the parts of our
holiday that didn't go to plan Mr Saunders and myself decided to
prioritise our remaining time and make the most of the places we
could see and the things we did do. We bought clothes and shoes and
other products not available in Mt Isa, we walked around Brisbane
city taking in the beauty and sights of a city we miss and spent much
needed time with family. The highlights of the trip for me, were
many, Yum Cha at King of Kings Seafood Restaurant (the place our wedding reception will be held) with a group of old
and dear friends, Margarita’s at Cactus Republic with Mr Saunders
and the Beautiful Timeetee, as well as Dinner at Le Classic French Restaurant with mum and Mr Saunders.
A lot of the highlights revolve around
good company and good food, both of which are very important in my
world. Mr Saunders and I treasure our friends and family, and being
the die-hard foodies we are can not go past an opportunity to
share amazing food with the ones we love. Indeed my two top
highlights from the holiday also involve food, on our last full
day in Brisbane we headed out to Red Hill and ate lunch in a small,
local kebab shop called No No's, a place we would eat at every week when we lived in the area. Walking through the old neighbourhood and
eating the best kebabs on offer in Brisbane was a great way to
reminisce. We even bought some other Lebanese goodies to bring home
with us.
The best day of the entire trip
however was definitely our anniversary (or what would have been our
wedding day if we had not postponed it.), We spent an entire day
together with just the two of us.
After a nice breakfast we walked
through the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens and stood in the lychee
garden which is where we will stand again next year when we finally
get married.
We had Mexican ( Cactus Republic again) for lunch before a relaxing walk through South
Bank, a reservation at Sono for dinner was
the perfect ending to the day. We had the Zen Course complimented
with sake tasting, plum wine (for me) and Japanese beer (Mr
Saunders), one of the best anniversary dinners ever!
It was an amazing holiday but I'm so
glad to be home, we both missed the babies very much, I am even looking
forward to returning to the day job and will be making an effort to find more time for writing. I
look forward to our next trip away though perhaps we will go
somewhere a little less hectic then a city where we know so many
people, I’m going to have to put my thinking hat on and find a
place where unlike the bar Cheers, nobody knows your name.
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