Riverfire Weekend!!

Most of you should remember Riverfire from last year's blog and video.

Well, apparently it made such an impression on Alison that she wanted to come and visit just to see it! And who am I to pass up an opportunity to have visitors!!! So Friday morning I went to the train station to pick her up. I saw her step off the train with video camera in hand. Hamming it up for the camera, I skipped, clapped and smiled toward her. For a second my eyes wandered behind her and there, standing as tall as ever, was Rob!!!!!! I screamed, "Holy crap!", dropped my purse and ran. The family decided it would be fun to surprise me with not only Alison visiting, but Rob as well!!! It was an awesome surprise! I wish I had the video to share with you, but we unfortunately didn't have the appropriate cable to transfer the video to my computer. But we did take pictures... lots and lots of pictures.

Their trip was only a total of 4 days, so we had to cram a lot of stuff into as little time as possible.

Friday was basically recovering from the flight, taking naps, eating and going seeing 'Tropic Thunder' in Gold Class (gotta love those reclining chairs).

Saturday we were off to the city to take in some sights. We started with a big breakfast at the Pancake Cafe, followed it up with a walk through the Queen Street Mall - where Rob was able to take his picture with a Koala as everyone before him did. Unfortunately we were unable to go to Lone Pine in our short time.... so... well.... at least he got a picture! We continued by taking a ride on the City Cat to South Bank. The plan was to walk around South Bank for awhile and then find a seat for Riverfire. However, we quickly realized that we had to get our seat as soon as possible. So we landed ashore and found a prime spot on the river. Three hours and six more people later, Riverfire began!!! It was great! Alison and Rob said that it was the best part of the trip! :)

That night, after grabbing some dinner, we headed Eastward to Alanah's house in Wynnum to spend the night. It was a GORGEOUS house on the bay. And it was nice for Alison and Rob to sleep in real beds. :)

Sunday morning we drove down to Manly to eat some breakfast before our excursion Southward to the Gold Coast. The rest of the day was laying on the beach, watching kite surfers, walking around the Esplanade of Surfers Paradise. eating dinner at Hogs Breath, and hanging out in our beautiful, ocean-view hotel room. :)

Monday morning we grabbed a coffee and a bite to eat at the nearby Zaraffas (delicious), and then began our trip to Byron Bay. The morning started off cloudy, but as the day progressed it tured out to be quite lovely. We first went up the hill to the Lighthouse, where we spotted a few whales, a pod of dolphins and even a stingray from a distance. We then wandered down to the beach where we played around with sand crabs and I desperately tried to get on the live webview of the coast so mom, who I was talking to on the phone, could see us. But we never could figure it out. :( After some lunch, gelato and a little CD shopping, we were on our way back to Brisbane.

That night we went to the Belgian Beer Cafe and met up with a friend from Vanguard, James, to have a night of good beer and good conversation.

Tuesday morning we were up bright at early to pack and be on our way to the train station.... where Alison and Rob got back on a train to the airport. :(

Such a quick trip!!!!!
But soooooo much fun.

Here's a slideshow of all the pictures we took over the weekend.
Don't blink, cause it goes quick... just a taste of how the weekend was: chaotic, jammed pack, but fun.



Who's next??? :)