The Wombat Press: Brisbane Trip

In mid-August we took a trip back to Brisbane to see family and friends. The genesis of the trip was that, originally, I was tentatively planning to attend a conference in Brisbane in early August. I had planned to take Augie with me. Then the conference fell through for me.

Then Mick was tentatively planning on attending a conference in Brisbane in mid-August. About the same time Mick was seeking approvals from his company for attending the conference, Qantas advertised a fairly killer sale on airfares. Wanting to take advantage of Augie's last few months of flying for free, I decided to go ahead and book the tickets. If Mick didn't get approval to attend his conference, then Augie and I would just have a little holiday in Queensland.

Long story short, Mick didn't get the approval to attend the conference but decided last minute to come with Augie and me to Brisbane. So a nice little family holiday was born. It ended up being a great break for Mick and me (what with all the grandparent/aunty/uncle time) and, hopefully, some great 1:1 time for GJ and Suzie.

Here are a few images from our trip.

watching the planes from the Perth airport Qantas lounge while waiting for our flight to Brisbane

arrived in Brisbane! lots of love from Suzie and GJ

a little bit of backyard catch

big throw to GJ!

just a sweet photo of a boy and his grandfather

storytime with GJ

storytime with Suzie

We caught the CityCat (ferry) to the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) for their children's exhibition. Augie wasn't entirely sure about being on the ferry.

But then once we got to GoMA he was happy with the bird-nest making part of the children's exhibition. Mind you, not as happy as he was with his own creative endeavours in making AS MUCH NOISE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE by screeching loudly and taking advantage of the echo in the airy space of the gallery on the way down to the basement-level children's exhibit. I was just grateful it was a slow weekday and, therefore, there weren't that many patrons around who were subject to Augie's 'performance'. A number of the museum staff did have a chuckle, though.

En route from the ferry terminal to GoMA, we stopped to have a look at all the buses which queue up on the James Cook Bridge. This was just fantastic entertainment and we had to stand there for quite a while (buses were still an absolute favourite on this trip).

The Brisbane Eye, taken from the CityCat

The Story Bridge, taken from the City Cat

Loving his hat and refusing to take it off, even in the car. As you may have guessed, he's donned it himself here.

Riding lessons from GJ

Riding Basha Felica (who is, according to GJ, faster than the fastest wind)

He got right into (complete with apron and all) buttering his own toast on this trip. Mostly this involved taking his 'knife' (a dull wooden thing) and mutilating the tub of butter and then the toast.

Riding bikes at Bailey Rodiger's house. Mom and Dad used to work in Brisbane with Bailey's dad Mark.

Crash! Riding bikes with Bailey.

More bike riding with Bailey.

Eventually they tired of riding bikes and retired to Bailey's sandpit.

They were both sitting so sweetly together in this big-person's lawn chair. Right up until about 15 seconds before I got my camera out!

A backyard family kick-back near the sandbox at Patrick and Lou's place.

Augie's cousings (R to L): Tom or Nick (I STILL can't tell who's who!), Alec, Ben, and Tom or Nick

A little play on Alec, Tom and Nick's trampoline with Dad

Tom or Nick (argh!) up their backyard tree

Alec, Tom and Nick's dog Rusty. Augie just LOVED Rusty (or Wusss-tahhhhh as he called him). The best part about Rusty, if you're Augie, is he has no fear of little people so allowed Augie absolute full access without running for cover like Bodhi does.