After staying up so late last night, I had a very late morning, waking up at 11:00am, which felt more like being at home than I've felt yet. So I skipped breakfast, and went straight to lunch, when Rose and Percy came over to join us. I learned, in the most direct method possible, the difference between our mild American deli mustard, and the hot english variety. With tears in my eyes, and a burning in my nostrils, I tried my best to pretend I had the whole situation under control, failing misurably.

Lunch with Gosdens

NOT American Mustard

Matt's got a swollen gland under his right ear, the one that'd been bothering him before we left. Carmel played the role of the concerned mother and has booked him an appointment with the doctor, where we waited for over an hour past our appointment time. Eventually someone came by to let us know there was still two people ahead of us, so we let them know we had places to go and people to see. Besides, the swelling has gone down alot since yesterday, and Matt's been feeling fine having had a good night's sleep. He felt even better about not having to pay for the doctor or for whatever antibiotics he'd likely prescribe.

A Jackaranda Tree

Waiting for the Doctor

So off we went to Brisbane, just Matt and I. We walked across the bridge with a beautiful daytime view of the city on the water's edge. On the other end of the bridge you land on Queen St. which is covered end to end with shops. The way is partly shaded by buildings and overhead footbridges, giving the appearance of a giant roofless shopping mall. It started to remind me of NY when I saw street musicians on every other corner, and cleverly placed sculptures on the sidewalks. But unlike NY, the street musician was an asian girl playing one of those chineese guitars (I forget what they're called), wailing away with more energy than her tiny frame could contain, and the sculptures were metallic kangaroos made entirely out of recognizable bits of cars. That was one of the coolest things I've seen. They were so perfectly proportioned, it was hard to think that the parts weren't specifically manufactured with roo sculpture in mind, and yet, they were just ordinaly scrap heap bits of metal.

Simon	Fountains at South Bank	Matt at South Bank	The Bridge We Walked Across
Brisbane From the Bridge	Brisbane From the Bridge	Brisbane From the Bridge	Brisbane From the Bridge
Brisbane From the Bridge	School Uniforms	Street Musician	Old Looking Building
Mecha-Roo	An Incredible Sculpture	Reincarcycled Bits of Car

We got back just in time to take a shower and sit down for the book study at the Hazaels'. It was tea-and-biscuit night (coffee and cake) so everyone hung out afterwards for a chin wag (conversation or two). Naomi came to our book study, and for once Matt and I, with our unmaskable American accents, were not the center of attention! We all sipped tea and had mini whiskey-and-cream covered buckwheat pancakes, talking about France and Naomi's remarkably long hair... We found out that Genelle is sick with the flu, so it might be just me going to Coochiemudlo Island tomorrow to have lunch with Naomi. When she told me that we should "rendezvous" at Victoria Point, Carmel and Peter couldn't help snickering a bit, much to Naomi's embarassment. I knew just what she meant, of course, but Peter just couldn't resist using the word whenever he could the rest of the night, cracking an innocent and rare smirk on my face unlike any other smirk this whole trip.

Chatting with Naomi	Ron in a Rare Straight Face	Just After the Book Study	Tea and Bikkies
Teaching Matt Carmel's Dishwashing Method