Wedding in Brisbane

We flew to Brisbane on 3 October for a wedding that Saturday. Michelle's cousin, who was at our wedding eight years ago, was getting married. This was our first trip within Australia. Our upstairs neighbors took us to the local train station so we didn't have to walk over a dirt trail with our luggage (thanks Kevin!). Although the train ride all the way to the airport was still overpriced, in my opinion, it was still less expensive than a taxi.

Our flight was on Virgin Blue. It was strictly no frills, but was OK for the one and a half hour flight. The small LCD screens in front of every seat kept recycling an annoying set of commercials for the duration of the flight, unless you swiped your credit card for a $5 charge to watch "premium" entertainment. This "feature" bothered me enough that on the flight back I draped a barf bag over the screen so I could concentrate on reading my book. Virgin Blue also charges for EVERYTHING (except the stupid earphones). You want a beverage or a snack? Be ready to cough up about $6AU (more if you want booze). Or just plan to bring your own when you fly Virgin Blue.

Michelle's cousins picked us up at the airport, and we went to a small family party that evening. I really liked how cosmopolitan Brisbane felt. The people and the city life felt very welcoming. Brisbane is noticeably cleaner than Sydney or Wollongong. About the only thing we didn't like was the heat. It was just like Texas -- Spring time and already in the mid 30s (90s F). Queensland itself has been suffering pretty badly through the 6-year drought that has plagued all of Australia. You could easily see the effects in the city's botanical gardens. A lot of the plants looked distressed and dry -- but water is so scarce there, none can be spared to make the garden more lush.

The wedding day was as crazy as expected, but everything magically came together to be the perfect day for the happy couple. The reception was quite fun, and we met a number of the couple's interesting friends and family there. During our stay we got to spend more time with the bride's parents (we hadn't seen them since our wedding), and that was nice. We will see them again when their tour of Australia takes them to our area around the 18th.

The Happy Couple

The Other Happy Couple