Brisbane, Bundaberg and Beyond!

As I write this, it's currently 1.40am and I'm sitting outside a tourist information centre in Bundaberg, scribbling down these words while MC sleeps on both our sleeping mats which we have laid across a metal picnic table. I've just awoken from my designated two hours sleep on the table. During my nap, I'm fairly certain MC spent his time writing a similar entry for his own journal and watching our baggage. Now that responsibility falls to me.

The story of how we ended up here begins twenty-four hours previously......

such as the escalator next to me that sounded like the Knight Rider theme tune.

Twenty-Four hours ago....

To get to Bundaberg, the town on the east coast of Queensland where we eventually found a place that had free beds and some form of fruit picking work, from Melbourne requires one tram, one bus, one plane (which turned into two) and two train journeys. MC and I left the safe, warm, comfortable and lovely Higgins residence (Kat's house) around midnight to catch the last tram to the coach station in the city. From here, we caught the bus to the airport. Our flight wasn't due to leave until 6am and we were there well in advance. We decided to take it in turns for a few hours sleep while the other person kept an eye on all our luggage (and played the DS).

Laying on a sleeping mat on the floor of an airport, surprisingly, isn't that comfortable. The harsh glare of the lighting burns through your closed eyes and the sound of many weary travellers pushing their trolleys and walking past results in only being able to obtain 'half sleep'. The kind where you dream lightly yet can be influenced by the sounds around you; such as the escalator next to me that sounded like the Knight Rider theme tune. I was also extremely grateful to myself for purchasing a pillow back in Tasmania. I remember the mocking I suffered at the hands of MC when I bought it; apparently I wasn't a 'proper traveller', I was a 'whiney baby'. Well that ginger bastard didn't complain one bit when he slept on said pillow that night I can tell thee!

Eventually 5am rolloed around. We checked in, bought some overpriced and over-cheerful breakfast from the food court and borded our plane. As Biggles was beginning down the run way, the plane suddenly turned back around towards the terminal with the pilot annoucing there was a probably with one of the wings that they wanted to get fixed. For someone who is afraid of flying as it is, being told there was something faulty with the plane didn't produce happy images within my head. We attempted to take off several times before, thankfully, they decided they couldn't allow the plane to take off when they couldn't discover what the problem was and the flight was cancelled.

Luckily, we only had to wait until just after 9am for the next availiable flight to Brisbane. However, not being on that first plane set in motion a small series of events that would eventually lead us to our current predicament.

There are only a few trains a day from Brisbane to Bundaberg. Not being on the 6am flight meant we missed the 11am train and had to instead take the 5pm train. This got us into Bundaberg some time after 9pm, over three hours after the check in at the hostel had finished. We tried all the local motels near the station in a vain attempt to find a bed for the night, not expecting to find anything. To no-one's surprise, this proved to be the case and we were resigned to sleeping rough on the streets of Bundaberg!

It's actually not that bad; the temperature is pleasantly warm, there's not much traffic on the roads and the metal table is made sleepable my placing both the sleeping mats on it. There is the distant sound of some small bats or large birds in some trees and a tiny lizard is climbing up the wall near to where I am sitting. From what we've seen of Bundaberg so far, the town is distinctly similar to a sleazy suburb in North Las vegas, the place you go when you've fucked up one too many times on the strip. We're surrounded by various motels and fast food joints, all with flashing neon signs and the building opposite our temporary camp site is an adult shop called 'Love Heart', which apparently has the Queensland school for fine art above it! The town is making quite an impression on us already.

I'm half an hour into my first 'bag watch' shift for the evening. MC and I have adopted the two hour sleep pattern that we used in Melbourne and we should both get four solid hours each tonight; solid mainly because of the metal table we're sleeping on. I'm already looking forward to my next two hour sleeping session; it's been a long day of travelling and not much sleep.

The five hour stop over in Brisbane also presented itself with the most random encounter I've had so far whilst being Down Under. As MC and I were making our way to the train station in Brisbane to catch our train to Bundaberg, walking down the street towards us were none other than our former housemates from the house in Melbourne - John and Anne-Marie! Now, Australia is a BIG country. Bumping into two people on a street corner in a country this large must be unheard of. Especially when we had no idea John and Anne-Marie were in Brisbane and vice versa. Add to that MC and I were only in Brisbane for five hours and just happened to be walking down that street at that particular time. Small world indeed. It was nice to have a brief chat and a catch up before having to dash off for our train.

Current thoughts:

1) How long has it been since I brushed my teeth?

2) It's going to be so, so good when once again I have a bed, employment and the complete opposite hygiene levels of a rotting pig corpse that drowned in it's own shit.

3) Just how wonderful it is to be thinking of someone whose in a completely different country and know that they are also thinking of you too.