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Our last day in Australia! 😢Natalie was off to work again and we were talking about how to spend our last day in the country. I wanted to take the train to town and visit the museum and Dana wanted to ride more. That’s what we did. Dana took her bike to ride the waterfront, and I did the short walks to the train and the Queensland Museum. We were leaving to the airport tonight since our flight is at 5 AM tomorrow.
I did the short walk to the Clayfield train station after creating a route for Dana to follow. I got to Roma station by 11, then detoured through a Farmer’s Market on my way to the Queensland Museum Kurilpa. I spent an hour and a half perusing natural history exhibits and a very interesting section on Australia’s participation in WW I.
Dana road the waterfront trail that we had partially ridden yesterday. We met downtown to connect with Natalie and get her car keys so I could test out whether the bike boxes would fit in her car. If so, she’d take us to the airport — and if not, we had to schedule an Uber or cab. It was a pretty short trip — it only took me 35 minutes on the bike. Dana continued her ride and I got the train back to Natalie’s and was there by 3:30.
The boxes fit in the car, but with the front seats moved up almost all the way, and that allowed only two passengers. More on that later. I disassembled my bike and boxed it up, and just about the time I was finished with that, Dana got back and I set about getting hers packed. We then set about packing our stuff back into our duffels and readying the two panniers each we were using as carry-ons and personal items. Worked out really well and we made a little something to eat with our last provisions and had a nice last meal with Natalie.
I loaded the bikes into the car and we were trying to figure out how to get a third person in there. Natalie told us that if you were caught riding without a seat belt in Australia, everyone in the car was fined A$1,000. Yikes! Natalie offered to make two trips, but I didn’t want to impose on her that much and got an Uber for just me for A$20. A bargain and we were so grateful to Natalie for getting us to the airport with the least hassle possible.
The Uber driver left me off a good distance from the departure terminal, so I hustled over there to help get the bikes and bags out and onto a cart. We said our goodbyes and thanks to Natalie and wished her well. Her hospitality made our final days in Australia and Brisbane so much easier.
At the airport, we were in the domestic terminal. Dana had AI’d directions for spending the night in the Brisbane Airport and it basically said, “Go to the International Terminal.” That would’ve been quite a hassle as all the Qantas gates were closed so we couldn’t check the bikes in and there wasn’t anyplace to store them. So, we improvised a little “fort” in the departure lounge. It wasn’t a restful night, but I got an hour or so of sleep and Dana about 4. It did get us to April 2 and our flight time of 5 AM. More about that tomorrow.
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