Carnival of Flowers

It's that time of the year again.  

The Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.

Times have been tough recently for our fair city so this weeks carnival is an important event on the calendar.

Nothing says spring like the millions of blooms, carefully planted en masse, and perfect spring weather.  The parade as usual was big and showy, apparently the best attended yet.  With open gardens, craft markets, bands and orchestra, side-show alley, it was all here.

The Flower Food & Wine Festival, with cooking demonstrations by celebrity chef Ben O'Donoghue and gardening demonstrations by the legendary Don Burke, was a huge hit as always.  How could it not be?

While the party is now over there is still plenty to see, hopefully without the crowds, so why not pop along and see our beautiful city for yourself? 

Tomorrow : Part II The down side ('cause with me there always is!)  

Flying high…

Recently I had occasion to fly to Sydney and back. 

Mercifully short trips.

Those of you who read my earlier post, here, will know that I am not a happy flyer.  I don’t fly too often, but there are things that I have observed that seem to happen EVERY, single time.

Boarding is announced, and regardless of who is invited to board first, everyone in the terminal rushes forward, hell bent on getting there first. There are several reasons why this is un-necessary people! 

First, and maybe most obviously, the seats are allocated, you aren’t going to get a better one by elbowing your fellow passengers out of the way!   

Secondly, what is the point of being first on when you have to keep getting out of your seat to let more casual passengers into theirs, whilst being smacked in the face with jumpers, handbags and laptop straps from the desperadoes trying to stuff their entire belongings into overhead compartments?  Honestly, am I the only person who checks luggage in this country? 

Lastly, there is ALWAYS someone who gets lost between check-in and boarding, do they forget they have a flight to catch?

Once settled and “comfy”, or concussed depending on the luggage your fellow aviators have smacked you with, there is the treat of the safety demonstration, as if, in the event of an emergency everyone isn’t going to run screaming for the exits, throwing the smaller and weaker bodily out of the way. Or is that just me? This last flight the Japanese couple I sat with, lovely people, sweetly copied everything the hostie did, including mimicking the putting on of oxygen mask, lifebelt and the brace position, I thought they were having a laugh, but no, DEADLY serious, maybe they knew something I didn’t!

Then we take off, and the second the seat-belt light goes out, multiple people fly out of their seats and hurtle to the loos, about 20 minutes after we boarded in the first place. Am I the only person who goes for a last minute, nervous pee before a flight?

After this, there usually isn’t much action, just the passengers who seem intent of becoming paralytic before we land, those who pee every five minutes, and the hosties, of either sex, who only manage to smile at the young cute guys, everyone else in an inconvenience apparently!

Then you start to descend, people seem to think they don’t have to raise their seats and tray-tables, surely the rules don’t apply to them!

When you land there is the instant chirping and pinging of mobiles, long before permission is given, because we all know everyone is far too important to be without their phone for an hour and a half! The instant the seat-belt light goes off, everyone, as one, stands up to get their bags, except the person blocking my way. No-one moves, everyone waits until the way is clear before then getting their bags ready, meanwhile the air gets hotter and hotter, as the people from the back jostle and push…hell.

Then there is the blissful moment when you move, when you burst out of the plane into the too hot/cold, exhaust filled freedom of the air-bridge, to be carried along by the mass of humanity determined to the first out of the doors, regardless of their seat allocation.

I really hate to fly! Maybe I should go business class in future… 

Queensland Girl in the city…

So, back to my conference tales.

After a hugely long day of presentations we were all ready to let our hair down.

The second night started much like the first, at a bar for a couple of drinks.  Surprised me again how busy it was, also how many snotty, loud, screamy toddlers were running wild and free around the bar.  Obviously Sydney’s idea of a crèche…

Then a short walk along King St Wharf to our venue, a BOAT!  We were going for a harbour cruise.  I am an even worse sailor than I am a flyer so you can imagine my joy.  As it was a surprise there was no time to take travel sickness medication, maybe a good thing in hindsight, I would have slept through all the fun!

A seven course set menu, with matched wines and an open bar…OMG!

Lovely food, great wine and a few bourbons.  My plan was to keep eating and drinking the WHOLE time to counter the waves of dizziness and nausea assailing me.

Luckily my plan worked, the only dodgy moments were the choppy bits under the bridge and on the turns, easily overcome with another glass of sparkling wine!

I spent a bit of time on the top deck with all the smokers taking in the views, and the fresh air!  And before you ask, no, I did not smoke.

The weather was perfect, the skyline far prettier at night.

All too soon it was over, we disembarked without incident, rather amazing given that the 20 of us had been giving the open bar a real workout!

On to another bar then for more drinking, and some people watching.

A rather forceful young local “lady” took a liking to one of my female companions, much to her horror and our mirth, the expression on her face was GOLD.

I decided to leave somewhere around the third round of shots, things were getting messy and I am now of an age where I know my limits…I know that will surprise some of you.

So back to the hotel, and straight to bed.

Needless to say, there were even less of us at breakfast the next morning and Berocca’s were issued at the door of our meeting room.  It was my first ever Berocca, they don’t warn you that you should wear sunnies for that first pee! It was a quiet first couple of hours I can tell you!

Then we had another magnificent meal, with wine (of course) in the dining room attached to the very swish bank’s boardroom that was our conference venue.

Eventually it was time to say goodbye, a dash across town, a rather stinky train ride to the airport – it may be convenient but…do people not understand what a bin is? That chewie is not actually a decorating feature…that there is such a thing as deodorant? Anyway…

I was at Sydney airport for hours before my flight, luckily as airports go it doesn’t actually suck too badly.  As is often the way, I ran into several sets of Brisbanites that I knew.

It gave me the chance to people watch, one of my favourite things.  As I sat there like a fool with tears in my eyes watching the reunions it reminded me of the best bit of the movie “Love actually”…the closing credits. “Interesting” clothing choices abounded, and I’m sure I saw Chris Lilley…

And then was the horror of the flight home! I halved my medication and stayed conscious…not my best move.

Sydney it was fun, thanks.

A Queensland Girl in Sydney…

So, on what was one of the longest working days of my life, starting at 5am when I left for the two hour drive to Brisbane airport…through my adventures in air travel, sitting through half a day of presentations while stoned on travel sickness meds through to the evenings activities…

First to the Cargo Bar, King St Wharf for a drink (or two) to get the evening started. 

  

      

A nice venue, lovely outdoor area over looking King St Wharf. Lots of seating, surprisingly busy for a Wednesday (but i’m a country girl and out town shuts down on a wednesday night), a bit noisy for my taste. Magnificent hanging baskets…I must be getting old!

Then on to The Malaya, just a few doors up. Pleasant  décor with views over Darling Harbour.

The food was magnificent.  As I was part of a group a set menu had been arranged.  There was something for everyone, plenty of food, well cooked and very delicious.  For me the highlight was the Salt & Pepper prawns and the Curry Prawns with Roti Canai…gorgeous. Again I was amazed at how busy the place was,  despite this the service was great.  My only complaint would be the noise, and not ALL of it was coming from our table!  Hard to hear yourself think, or hear the conversational gold that is a bunch of weary business people after several hard hours of drinking on the first day of a three day conference!  Why is it adults with a “leave pass” from their ordinary lives just go nuts?

Eventually the place cleared out and we were the only ones left…the kitchen closed and the staff were stacking chairs and standing around cleaning glasses shooting meaningfull gazes in our oblivious direction. Eventually some not so subtle flicking on and off of the lights attracted out attention and we piled out, well after closing time.

I, in a rare display of common sense, went back to the hotel which was conveniently less than 5 minutes walk away.  I was sleeping sweetly for hours by the time some of my comrades piled back into the hotel in the not so early hours!

There were tales of slippery nipples, refusal of service, and a 100m cab ride, much hilarity and ill advised photos… all in all I am glad though that I am a bit of a nanna and went home to bed!

Stay tuned for day two…

Flying…

Recently I had to fly to a conference.  It was only in Sydney so about 1 ½ hours each way.  I am a nervous flyer... mostly because of motion sickness.  

The stuff of nightmares...

I am not worried about emergencies or turbulence…what scares the hell out of me is public vomiting.  Could you imagine much worse than having a chuck in front of hundreds of people and having to sit there with them all afterwards? Without having consumed copious amounts of alcohol first anyway…? (but that is another story…and it wasn’t hundred’s, 10’s maybe…)

Normally when I fly I have to drive afterwards so am limited to “natural” medications to get me through but this time I had transport at either end so decided to go with the “real thing”.  Not one to do things by halves, I took the maximum dose at the prescribed time before the flight. BIG MISTAKE…the effects didn’t kick in until shortly before landing…I didn’t get sick but didn’t enjoy my flight either. 

Problem was…I fell asleep during the landing.  I woke up to rather desperate seat mates wanting to get off the flight.  I wobbled my way down to baggage claim, met my colleagues and threw myself on the mercy of Sydney trains.  A novel experience that whilst convenient, seems hellishly expensive and isn’t something I am desperate to repeat.

I barely remember checking into the hotel and staggering around Darling Harbour before my companion bought me a very large, and strong, cup of coffee before escorting me to the venue.

The conference started with lunch, so that woke me up a bit…but the I had to sit there through 4 ½ hours of presentations…the good things was, whilst everyone else was flagging at afternoon tea time, I woke up and was bright eyed and bushy tailed, if a little fuzzy on some of the details.

Then we went out for drinks and dinner…but that's another story.

Do you get travel sickness?