HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KENDALL!!

Hey guys!
I hope you have all been well and safe.
We have just enjoyed a trip up to Brisbane, in sunny Queensland, for my bro's birthday!! Woowhoo 30th!! We have both been looking forward to getting up there since Christine hadn't been there yet. We set off Friday night,only after a lazy 45min delay! I hate delays. Anyway, waking up in the morning and not hearing trucks,buses and general human noise was a good thing. We both wanted to sleep in, but couldn't since I had to meet an old friend of mine who is getting married in Sept. to get suited up for his wedding. So off we went into the big smoke of Brisbane to Myer. I met Cameron and his wife(unable to correctly spell her name....sorry) and a friend of his, and got suited in some funky brown suit...chicka-bow-wow!! From there I met another friend Brad(bazza-aussie as!!) for a few drinks. Dan also made his hungover body in to have a brew and a catch up. For me it was good to see some familiar faces.

From there we made it back to Kendall's where Cady(his wife) had hired(rented for you Canadians) a projector screen. HUGE!! Alright, sport on the big screen! Their house is looking great with the downstairs area pretty much a haven for gatherings, now with a well lit pool table(straight mind you, and lights provided by caring family members and friends!!), new rails on the pockets, (N.B. thumbtacks will not be enough to hold them for the long haul), and also a well decked out bar, which now may need re-stocking!!
The party was fun - we watched the rugby and the 'real' reason for the big screen - a photo presentation capturing Kendall's 30 years of life, friends, experiences and happiness!! How he has changed! As far as big brothers go I am happy to have a good role model to look up to and to learn from, cheers mate. Okay, enough of the soppy stuff.... THE CAKE!!! The cake was a huge double layer sponge cake filled with chocolate custard, covered with a mountain of choc flakes!!

Cady also did a stella job on the catering front!! Thanks Cady for all your hard work! The bar also got a work out with a few crazy mixtures from the master-mixer Mark. The best way to judge a night is the next day... I didn't surface until 4pm!! We then topped the day off with a quick bush walk up to a water tank with a glimpse of the sunset.

Monday was a more productive day. Kendall had the day off and we didn't have to leave until later on that night. So off we went to AUSTRALIA ZOO -yeah, that's right, Steve Irwin's zoo! We decided on the scenic route to get there which was a little ...... uhhh...... a little more scenic than Kendall would have liked. But we got there just in time for the feeding of the big salt water crocs. These big guys take away many of the great swimming opportunities in the northern parts of this country! When you see a sign "AUCHTUNG NO SWIMMING" BELIEVE IT! As the handlers said, "if the water was dirty, you couldn't see a 12' monster!".

There was also a Croco-sium, which holds about 5000 people - it was amazing. You know that when Steve Irwin is there, it's packed out! It would be a crazy place in the middle of holidays!

Christine then got to see and pat her first kangaroo, and thankfully it was alive; many see their first as a result of road kill ;( We're pretty sure, they were sedated. Kids running around touching and patting them all day would surely make an animal snap. Thankfully they didn't. We then saw tigers, a cassowarie and all sorts of amazing creatures. Loved it, it was a great day, Thankfully it didn't rain!

Then we headed home, along the highway this time for a direct route back to Kendall's to prepare for take off. The flight was good and the view of Sydney at night was really amazing!
All in all a good weekend was had and we are both looking forward to returning soon. Cheers guys.