June 21st & 22nd, 2012- Sheldon Caravan Park-Brisbane

Thursday saw us head off from Noosa towards Brisbane. Saw Di standing at roadside to wave us goodbye as we left town. The road to Brisbane was good with multiple lanes all the way. Unfortunately, I needed a nature break as we headed into Brisbane and pulled off at a Rest Stop Service area. This led to a bit of an adventure as we didn't get back on the same motorway. Our Tom Tom led us downtown to a tunnel that was regrettably closed. After some tricky manoeuvring through downtown Brisbane streets we managed to get back on route via another motorway. Sandra was not happy with John Cleese who is the voice on my Tom Tom! Not very relaxing and Sandra was ready to just keep heading South towards home by the time we made it through the city and arrived at the Sheldon caravan park.

What a dump this one was. The worst caravan park we have been in on our entire trip. We were stuck on two slanty sites that were only big enough for one full size van. We needed 3 boards and a ramp to level our caravan and neither of us could open our awnings because the sites were so narrow. To top it off it was in a poor neighbourhood and the cleaning staff appeared to take a few days off. Needless to say we were all a bit stressed by our first impressions of Brisbane. If travelling through Brisbane to not stay at the Sheldon Caravan Park!

Later in the afternoon the four of us drove to Stephen's Aunt's house. We met Cheryl, her husband Mick, Son Trad and wife Lauren, Daughter Toni and husband Hayden. A few nieces Cleo and Duska were there too. We had a lovely evening, drinks, and dinner with them all. We were all made very welcome and had a great night. Mick wants to travel Australia as well and got a bit jealous when we told him about some of our adventures. Hope he gets to enjoy his own adventure soon!

We had a quiet day around the caravan park on Friday. We went for a bit of a shop at Garden City in the afternoon. Stephen's cousin, Trad who is the media manager for the "Broncos" picked us up in a cab around 4PM to go to the Bronco-Rabbits match at Suncorp Stadium. He took us on a tour of the stadium including on the field and the dressing rooms. We got to meet Bronco's coach Anthony Griffin on our tour.

We left Trad to get ready for the game, and found a place for dinner along Caxton Street. The street was a hive of activity with lots of Bronco and Rabbit fans preparing for the game. Found a nice Thai restaurant that catered to Gluten Free. Had a beautiful meal! Check out my bowl of Won Ton soup below. I thought it was a bit expensive at $10 when I ordered for an appetizer but turns out it must have been designed for 4 people. Beautiful; and yes I did eat it all! And my dinner too!

After dinner we returned to Suncorp stadium where Trad had provided us with complimentary tickets about 10 rows up on the 40M line. They were great seats in a great stadium to watch a Rugby League game. Every seat is a good one and the atmosphere was really good with just less than 35,000 fans. Trad informs us that this is actually lower than average attendance. We are seated beside Olympic swimmer, Jessicah Schipper and her husband Brett. They introduce themselves and are nice people. Trad sprints across the field just before the game starts to say hi to Jessicah and to present the four of us with Bronco hats which we need to put on or leave the stadium! What a laugh; as I come back from making a beer run, to find the 3 of them wearing Bronco hats. At halftime they put Jessicah Schipper on the big screen and sure enough her husband drags Rans into the picture too! Turns out it was broadcast on Channel 9 and Carol's mobile starts going crazy. "Was that Rans on TV with a Bronco's hat and has he given up his Manly Sea Eagles membership"?? After the game Trad meets us at a Pub for the post game party. Great night with free drinks and all the players. Topped off with John Williamson singing True Blue to Petero Civoniceva in honour of his 300th 1st grade game. Apparently he is a mad Bronco supporter although I was a bit suspicious of his choice of songs. Think he might be a closet Blue's supporter. Great night and many thanks to Trad!!