“Siang, bu,” I greeted the owner of the restaurant in West End, Brisbane.

“Oh! Halo! Mau makan apa? Ini menunya. Duduk aja dulu, duduk.”

It was so fun to walk around the neighbourhood without any map and just asking people where the cafes were. I took the ferry to cross the river and walked around West End and stumbled on an Indonesian Restaurant, Makanan Indonesia. I didn’t think long to decide to have lunch there. The owner was really friendly and I felt at home right away. I ordered in Indonesian and I almost felt like I was not in Australia. They were so homey too. After I left, I saw them having lunch together as a family in the restaurant from the bus.

Well, I booked a tour to the Lamington National Park a month before but they emailed me two days ago that the tour was cancelled. They didn’t meet the minimum number of people for the tour. Bummer. The tour was supposed to be one of the highlight of my trip. I read so much about it. And I  thought it would be really good to spend time in the forest, to see nature and hike and enter caves and see wildlife. That didn’t happen.

I asked the owner of the restaurant how to go to the city and took the bus there. It was a nice ride. While I was on the bus, I passed by the cafes that I wanted to visit. The buildings stills have the 1980 charms to them and it would have been nice to just walk around the area. When I reached Cultural Centre, every part the area was new discovery. There were some of interesting displays there. But the most amazing part of the city was probably Streets Beach, a pool-beach in the middle of the city! I also saw street performances, families spending time together, moms talking to each other while the dads pushing strollers with their kids sleeping in it and the young skateboarding. It was a good day to walk around the city.

I thought the temperature in summer gonna reach almost 40 degrees! I was ready for hot days. But it has been raining on and off and it’s been perfect so far. I could do lots of walking without sweating excessively like I always do in Singapore whole year ’round.

8 January 2015