On Friday the 17th Nalissa and TJ (her sister) called and arranged to pick me up to take me to "the mountain." I didn't quite understand what was going on - I had misunderstood the day before when Nalissa told me there was a dinner. It turned out we were going up to Mt. Tamborine, where the wedding was, and we were going to be there for two nights. Too bad I didn't pack anything. :-) Ah well, it all worked out in the end. We spent the entire time just hanging out and talking, listening to music, and sleeping.
On Saturday was the wedding. I ended up helping to fold some of the "Order of Service" handouts, but I didn't have to hang anything from the ceiling this time. :-) The wedding didn't start until 3, so we went and grabbed some lunch at a fish and chips shop then went to get changed for the wedding. Well, everyone else got change - I just sat and waited since I only had what I was wearing. :-)
The wedding was fantastic. Amanda was stunningly beautiful. I mean, she's always been an attractive girl, but you put some makeup on her, do her hair up all fancy-like, and slap on a beautiful white dress and she lights up the room. Gorgeous. The ceremony was very relaxed. Definitely had a lot of Amanda's free-wheeling personality injected into it.
I wasn't able to go to the reception, so after the ceremony I hitched a ride back to the chalet where the girls were staying and hung out until later that night when everyone else returned. Then it was another night of talking, laughing and general frivolity, PNG-style.
The next day we got up and packed up the two houses where we were all staying, then went out and grabbed some breakfast. Some people had to catch flights out, so everyone sort of left when they needed to. Nalissa, TJ and I headed out to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast for a drive just to see what we could see. The day was pretty crappy so it wasn't that nice but the beaches were still beautiful.
When we got back to Brisbane, I called up the Story Bridge Climb people to see if there were still some climbs available that day since I was leaving the next day and wouldn't get a chance to do the climb otherwise. Luckily, they had spots available for the 4:00 twilight climb.
The climb was kind of crappy because of the weather, but it was still a fun experience. The best part was really getting ready. We had a whole bunch of gear to put on and stuff, so it felt like a much grander expedition than it actually was. We were even equipped with a Bone Vibrating Radio Transducer. How cool is that?
The climb itself was not strenuous at all. I was actually hoping for something slightly more difficult. I guess the 200 floors in 40 minutes 6 days a week at the gym has gotten me prepared for much more challenging stair climbs. The guide was really entertaining, though, so it was a great experience. I'd definitely recommend it to people.
Yesterday I flew into Melbourne. Christine Barber (now Ludwell) and her husband Rupert picked me up at the airport. They had a potluck dinner with friends that night so I joined them for that. They have internet access here so I am catching up on posting some stuff to the site and getting emails sent. I really have no clue how to holiday without the internet. :-)