We knew today would involve food but not quite that much food. Nick, Josef and Fraser headed out for their weekly Park Run down at South Bank and all returned having bettered their time from last week. All three of them though were requiring nana naps as soon as they fell in the door. They had picked up a pineapple on their way back through the markets so breakfast was very leisurely with croissants, cereal and yoghurt.
Once Fraser was woken from his nana nap we headed out for our first visit of the day to friends Greg, Liz and Isabella. We met these Aussies in Calgary as Greg was doing a parallel job as Fraser in that he was working for an Aussie company in Calgary on a two year contract. We had gone to Jasper for the weekend and were crunching our way around a frozen lake when we bumped into them. Liz was heavily pregnant so was doing it extra tough.
Their daughter Isabella was born in Calgary so is lucky enough to have dual citizenship. Unlike us, they stayed the two years and then returned to Brisbane.
Since we last saw them in Brisbane they have acquired a beautiful mellow dog called Bob who has won them over totally. Their has also been musing of getting a second dog which of course Di encouraged them wholeheartedly and even had a whisper in Isobella’s ear as to how to achieve her goal.
The guys live in a suburb called Highgate Hill which is the next suburb over from where we are staying with Nick. This area is very hilly with lots of little streets tucked away in gullys and in their case they live in a tree house. Their al fresco area is suspended in the air by 20 feet and you are sitting in the tree tops. It was drop dead gorgeous.
Up in the tree tops sharing our view were about 10 bush turkeys. Apparently this is their normal resting places. We went for a walk and Greg and Liz showed us how much undergrowth these birds move around to create ground nests. You could spread about a truck load of mulch around your garden beds and overnight they would scoop it all into one pile and create their nest. And before any of our international blog readers ask, YES, this is snake territory and YES they have had visits from them.
Back to Nicks in time to head out to another food appointment. So, we had had a leisurely long breakfast, leisurely long lunch and now about to have dinner – Oh god!!! We were heading out to a dinner organised by the body corporate committee of the FLOW apartment complex where Nick lives. They are wanting to continue to develop a family type atmosphere in the apartments which is a great idea.
So we are sitting there chatting away to people and this chap from the group comes up and asks if he is speaking to Fraser Rowe. Guess we all know the answer to that. This chap remembers working with Fraser back in 1990 when we lived in Sydney. They worked on a project together for about six months where his company hired the firm Fraser worked for. It transpires that we were living in Muswellbrook at the same time as them and only ten doors down the road and we knew people they knew. In fact we are visiting mutual friends in Newcastle next week on our way back to Sydney. This got really spooky and everyone kept looking at us as though we were aliens. The mining world is not very big, so to speak. So that is our tale from the day and not to mention we had to be rolled out of the restaurant.
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