So I flew to Brisbane Friday lunchtime and flew back to the Bundaberg this morning. There was a cheap flight sale at the end of last year and it fitted beautifully with the plans the Jinxster and I had made to book for Jesus Christ Superstar by Harvest Rain at QPAC. We stayed with Anne M and had bought her a ticket as well. I was excited because the production looked really good. Sadly, in between our bookings Brisbane flooded and QPAC had to shift the JC Superstar season to June. That left us with our cheap plane tickets so we decided to go anyway. After an hour delay leaving Bundaberg we arrived in Brisbane around 2 on Friday afternoon. The lovely Anne drove us to Portside at Hamilton where shared a yummy vege pizza and then wandered past all the posh shops. One of them was having a big big sale. I bought my sister a white cotton embroidered skirt marked down from about 90 dollars to TEN. Even if it doesn’t fit her I didn’t care. And then I found a floaty dress for myself that was forty dollars instead of about 120! Then we watched some Ascot/Clayfield rich ladies pay exorbitant amounts for clothing at full price.

Saturday morning we ventured to the south side to Carindale. This is one of the few Westfields in Brisbane that I have never been to. The most striking feature was the carpeted floor. We met a friend of Anne and Jinx’s for morning tea at The Shingle Inn. I had green tea and passionfruit cupcake. It’s definitely not like the original Shingle Inn that used to be in the city. It was always such a treat going there. Still, it was very acceptable. While they sat and chatted I took myself on a whirlwind tour of the sales. I found myself a string of paper lanterns. It’s probably time that I took down my Christmas fairy lights from the bookshelf so I will replace them with the lanterns instead. I also found some bargain cool cotton tops in Tree of Life – 11 dollars each – that I can wear with all my skirts. I also found a great dark green shoulder bag that was only 15 bucks. I am using it already. Then I headed for Sussan’s for their summer sale items. I was less than impressed with the manager who seemed to be berating one of the retail assistants in front of the whole shop in a unnecessarily loud voice. Still, I found a long blue swirly skirt (marked down), a new nightie, (marked down), and a new summer dressing gown (also marked down). The last item is the most exciting really. Since 1999 I have been wearing a summer dressing gown that I also bought as Sussan’s and haven’t found a better one since. It’s lasted remarkably well and seen me through many years. I will keep it but try this new one. I also bought my mother some soap from Crabtree and Evelyn as she has been on cat duty…and my father, who adores kitchen gadgets is getting his very own jarkey.

Saturday afternoon Anne and I had planned to go to Chermside as I am nearly out of my T2 Green Vanilla tea. I only get to buy it in Brisbane. Unfortunately, she had to pick her mother up from the airport after she had been in Sydney for two weeks. When they got to her house they discovered the power had tripped some days ago and two huge fridges and a double freezer were filled with rotting food. So Anne got to spend the afternoon cleaning them out and I had a little nap. I don’t know what I am going to do in the next week or two when my tea runs out. I have a cup every morning and it’s the highlight of breakfast time. Saturday night, my good brother came over and we went for dinner at a yummy Thai place on Racecourse Road, followed by some gelati. Dear Kate, his wife, couldn’t make it as she had worked all day and had a big headache. She had to work again today.

This morning our flight left at 8:50. Qantas check-in was madness. Luckily for us we had done our online check in the night before. However there was some last minute drama when at 8:20, after Anne had dropped us off, I looked in my bag and discovered I hadn’t picked up my phone and charger from the bedroom. So Anne, wonder that she is, drove back to the airport again and I met her out the front and grabbed my phone. Luckily she only lives about 5-10 minutes from airport. Phew, that was close. How would I have survived without my phone?