"We" have arrived!

My boxes from my Brisbane home were delivered to my Singapore home today at 1pm. From collection of boxes in Brisbane on 28 November to shipment on 23 December to arrival in Singapore port for goods examination on 14 January to delivery to my home on 8 February, it only took 72 days. I deemed that's pretty quick, thought I would only receive my boxes in March. :) I would definitely recommend Seven Seas Worldwide to those who intend to ship back their belongings, excess baggage, etc. from overseas. Seven Seas Worldwide is efficient, professional and very reasonable in their pricing! :) If I ever have to ship anything from overseas back to Singapore again, I will definitely use Seven Seas Worldwide.

I was very excited to see my boxes again. They contained my personal effects from my Brisbane years. They are meaningful and have plenty of sentimental value to me. As I unpacked the boxes, memories came rushing back about my years in Brisbane. If I thought packing was emotionally difficult, unpacking was equally hard. :( I am really glad for my friend, Azlina who helped me with the packing of the boxes in Brisbane in November 2013. She helped to focus my attention on packing and it made the whole packing process less painful. Every now and then, I would pause to reminiscence as I unwrapped the items. Such wonderful memories of Brisbane, of UQ, of my life experiences. It is sad that my life in Brisbane has ended but I take heart that the memories of my life in Brisbane will be stored in my heart and mind.

"I was assailed by memories of a life that wasn't mine anymore, but one in which I'd found the simplest and most lasting joys." Albert Camus

Brisbane/ Gold Coast 2013 Trip Posts

All the posts of our Brisbane/ Gold Coast 2013 trip have been posted and with all the photos uploaded too. Sorry for the delay. To make it easier for those of you who wants to look at the places we visited/ went to, below are the links for each day. Sight-seeing started from the 28 November 2013 onwards.

25 November 2013: Brisbane - Packing
26 November 2013: Brisbane - Packing
27 November 2013: Brisbane - Packing + Friendship
28 November 2013: Brisbane - Packing + University of Queensland + City Sights
29 November 2013: Brisbane - Cafe + Friendship + City Sights
30 November 2013: Brisbane - Pancakes + Aussie Lifestyle + CityCat + South Bank
1 December 2013: Brisbane - Sunday Market + City Sights + Friendship
2 December 2013: Gold Coast - Ocean
3 December 2013: Gold Coast - Shopping + Beach
4 December 2013: Gold Coast - Springbrook National Park + Mt Tamborine + Friendship
5 December 2013: Brisbane - Fortitude Valley/ Chinatown
6 December 2013: Brisbane - Farewell

Thank you very much for your patience. Hope you will enjoy reading my posts on our Brisbane trip.

Brisbane Sad Day 1/ Home

It was our last morning in Brisbane. The weather looked great! It was a pity that we were leaving. Wished that we were staying on for a few more days. :) 

Great weather on our last morning in Brisbane

Clear weather and we could see the mountains in the distance

Our airport transfer arrived promptly at 7:30am and we were at the airport by 8:20am. There was a LONG queue for check in at the Qantas counters. Thank goodness I have already checked in online so I was in a much shorter queue and we were done in 20 minutes. 

The Story Bridge as we passed in our airport shuttle

After checking in our luggage

After clearing immigration and customs

At our Gate 85

Our Qantas flight that is going to bring us home

Boarding now

By 10:05am, we boarded the plane. Once again, we were really lucky. We had three seats to ourselves so we could share the extra seat. :) There was a slight delay and we only took off at 11am, instead of 10:30am. The journey was smooth, hardly any turbulence. :( I was seated next to the window so I could take lots of photos whenever I fancy lol. :) I enjoyed the food too. :) Other than watching the inflight movies, we also took naps. :)

Brisbane city as seen from the runway

We had earphones on and busy watching movies

See the plane on its flight path to land

Flying over the mountain ranges

Meandering river

Farm land

Kid's meal :)

My curry vegetable meal - thank goodness, not spicy :P

Hot chocolate and Peppermint tea

Flying over ocean and an island

Nice, fluffy clouds

Dessert! Weis' mango and cream ice cream - delicious!

Flying through cloud cover

Kid's light meal

Light meal consists of chicken mayo, sun-dried tomatoes, and rockets sandwiches

Nearing Singapore

Flying over Singapore land

Land ahoy! :P

Landed at Changi International Airport

We landed in Singapore at 4:17pm. Although we took off later, we still arrived on time. Oh it was also wet as it had rained, it seemed that I have brought the rain (wet weather) back to Singapore with me lol. It is good to be home. :)

Gold Coast Fun Day 4/ Brisbane Fun Day 6

We are going back to Brisbane today. It has been an enjoyable and relaxing three days in Gold Coast. :)
Azlina had already left early in the morning at 6am as her flight to Singapore from Gold Coast International was at 9:25am. We checked out promptly at 10am but we stayed till 11am because I had to do the online check in when it opened at 10:30am for our return flight to Singapore tomorrow and I also booked our airport transfer to Brisbane International Airport. :) With our now significantly heavier hand luggage, we slowly walked over to Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. We spent some time window shopping before we caught our 12:03pm bus at Pacific Fair bus terminal to Nerang Station and then our 12:29pm train to Roma Street Station. We arrived in Brisbane at 1:35pm. :)

One last look of the ocean :)

The lobby area of Voyager Resort

The BBQ area (to the left is the swimming pool)

Waiting for our train to Roma Street, Brisbane

Big, spacious toilet on the train! (the semi-ciricular corner)

Juliane tickled by the Banana Bar (vending machine of bananas!) Alas, it was out of order

Our check in at Meriton Herschel Street was very quick and we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom city view apartment, 2008 on the 20th level! I was very surprised that the staff actually took note of our previous accommodation details and upgraded us accordingly. I initially booked a cube apartment (on the lower floors so views would be limited) as we were only going to stay for the night and leaving at 7am for the airport. Even though we have stayed in the 1 bedroom apartment previously, the view still wows us. :)

The mysteriously locked door is in this apartment too (same position!)!

I did some laundry and some packing before we went out close to 4pm. The weather looked threateningly dark and cloudy. It seemed a storm was already brewing in the distance. :(

We were really lucky! It started raining just as we walked to Queens Street Mall. We shopped for about two hours and bought Lush products, snacks from Coles and others. :) We took the train from Central Station to Fortitude Valley Station or Chinatown because Juliane wanted very badly to go to Chinatown to have Chinese food, more specifically yum cha. I had the help of my ex-student, Charissa who gave me some really good recommendations for yum cha and  of the Chinese restaurants. :)We walked around a bit to gain my bearing as it had been 20 years since I was last in Chinatown. :P

Christmas decorations at the control station, Fortitude Valley Station

Chinatown! :)

As it was close to 7pm after our little walk around in Chinatown, we went to King of Kings Seafood Restaurant for night time yum cha! I couldn't believe that this restaurant is still around, has been there since I was a student at UQ! We ordered a fried rice with preserved vegetable, diced prawns and Chinese sausage, a Mushroom with shredded Roast Duck soup, and steamed Custard buns. Juliane definitely enjoyed her dinner. With every mouthful of fried rice, Juliane repeated the same phrase, "Oh this is so nice, this is the best restaurant ever!" Didn't realise the poor girl was so deprived of Chinese food haha. :P Juliane also loved the fortune cookies - breaking it, reading her fortune and eating it! :) 

Fortune cookies! :)

Reading her fortune most intently

Our fortunes - Juliane's the top slip and mine's the bottom slip. Very apt! :)

Although we didn't order a lot, we couldn't finish our food and had to pack them back. After dinner, we walked around a bit more to help with our digestion as we were really full. :) 

I used to go to that green building to buy my Chinese stuff. OMG, it is still here.

We headed back home at 8pm. We took a look at the swimming pool and the gym at Meriton. Next time, we will bring our swimwear. :) 

The swimming pool (jacuzzi in the corner)

The sauna and the gym

The corridor leading to only one apartment - ours, 2008

For our last night, we decided to indulge ourselves and soaked in the bathtub with Lush's Tisty Tosty bath ballistic. :) It was a really relaxing experience with our skins feeling soft and smelling really fragrant. :) After our soak in the bathtub, I continued with the final packing while Juliane watched telly. :)

The bath ballistic in the bathtub fizzing away

Seven rosebuds encased in the bath ballistic floating to the surface and releasing a lovely rose scent

More goodies bought from Coles :P

Night view of Brisbane River on our last night in Brisbane

We will miss Brisbane a lot. Juliane is already making plans to come back to Brisbane, which includes staying at Meriton again, and going to Chinatown more frequently lol. :P