Saying goodbye and Hello

Mon 24 August… today was a very emotional day as we said goodbye to Vanessa, Robbie and Tobi who are on their way home. It was also a very stressful day as were given the wrong info on where to drop off Vanessa’s van. The map and details of the drop off point turned out to be a complete load of rubbish. We were sent 25K’s out of Brisbane, in the opposite direction to the Airport only to find that the people we were to deliver to had ceased working for the company months ago and someone else had taken over the franchise on the other side of the city. After a couple of phone calls we were redirected to a district back in Brisbane which we had a great deal of difficulty finding, even with proper Navigator it would have been difficult. When we did find where we were supposed to be we lat rip about how incompetent the company was, but of course we were ranting at the wrong people as they were just agents for the hire company. A strong letter will be sent.
Having got that sorted we headed for the airport in our van hoping we could park in a no height restricted area as our van is too tall for multi storey car parks. We managed to park, though a long way from the departure terminal, once inside Vanessa got onto an airport computer to check in on line and having got to the final stage the printer wouldn’t work. We had wanted to check in earlier at a public library but it didn’t open until 10. That was before we set off into the hills! A trip to the Emirates office got them sorted, 3 seats together. We said our goodbyes and headed back into Brisbane.
In the city we had a look at the river and the botanical gardens, where we had a snack which we unwillingly shared it with a rogue Kookaburra. He snatched wedges from our fingers just before they got to our mouth, at speed and in flight! He made us jump! Later, we once again found ourselves misplaced trying to find our friend Marion’s house, where we were staying the night. By good luck we found a pub close to her house which we remembered from our last visit, 6 years ago, so we phoned Marion to ask her to come and fetch us in the pub. They just happened to be showing the highlights of the last days play of the Ashes, and we watched the replay of Freddie running out Ponting 17 times!! It’s been another hot day, 35 C and we ate dinner outside on Marion’s deck and had a very pleasant evening chatting about old times. It was an excellent distraction after waving the Faulkners off.