Brisbane: The horse wouldn’t stop hugging me

After another night punctuated with running feet overhead and things that go bump loudly in the dark, it was almost time to depart Brisbane. For some reason that night I had a dream I went home to pick up our dog who was ecstatic to see us, and that my uncle gave me a ‘Ring of Disillusionment’ which, perhaps with hindsight could have been construed as some kind of premonition. Not one to be outdone, Brodie informed me that he dreamt of being hugged by a horse that wouldn’t get off of him. Apparently there was also a lot of face licking involved. He claims that this horse was a manifestation of our dog, who he was taking somewhere to be a spectator at a horse race. I suppose at least he had an excuse for the strange dreams with the painkillers he’d taken the night before, but sleeping in Brisbane really wasn’t agreeing with either of us.

We weren’t too unhappy to be seeing the back of the hostel or its inhabitants. Or of having to trek up and down stairs, changing buildings just to get to an area where we could access a kitchen or wifi. It’s such a big hostel that there’s never a time when the common areas aren’t filled with people lounging about. A trendy netbook is a must-have fashion accessory for almost everyone to carry under their arm. The queue for the few PCs that cater for the kids that are behind the times is steady. We’re looking forward to finding somewhere a little quieter soon, without the constant smell of burning food and overpowering heat in all the common areas.

We checked out and grabbed some breakfast before our date with the needle. After almost 2 hours that were mostly spent waiting around, the doctor finally got around to glancing at the forms we’d filled out and left us to the care of Nurse Ratchet. She eventually administered a couple of needles, gave us lollipops, and then spent forever filling out more forms while various people kept bursting in and demanding to know if she was done yet. Following some dire warnings of what to do should we get bitten by insects or any other kind of wildlife, she finally sent us off to pay a kings ransom for her services, casually mentioning we might find there were a few little side effects from the concoction of insidious diseases she had just infected us with. Trying to pretend that a number of nasty illnesses weren’t starting to circulate through our systems, we loaded up with some sugary drinks and muffins, picked up our luggage from the hostel and headed to the train station. Next up, Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.