Queensland Day 7

Monday, 30 April 2018

The above photos looks like they could have been taken on a touristy rainforest walk but in fact I took them it at the Queensland Sprint Orienteering Championships we attended on Saturday.

By fortunate happenstance the event was being held in a suburb of Brisbane on the exact same day that we had a few hours to kill before flying home from Brisbane Airport in the late afternoon.   The map was brand new, the courses were excellent and the area looked fun. The only thing which would have made it better would have been if I hadn't been too sick to actually run it.

I'm not sure how I got sick, but I woke up early on Saturday morning with the intention of going for a final walk along our local beach. However after a few minutes of being awake I felt so nauseous I could only lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling for the next few hours.  I returned to bed when Jon got up, leaving him to pack up everything and load it into the car. Luckily I'd packed up my stuff the night before so I was able to stay in bed until the last moment before we left, when I dragged myself downstairs to the car park (only to drag myself straight back upstairs again to use the facilities).  

 The journey down to Brisbane was thankfully uneventful, but rather tedious as there was a lot of traffic heading into the city. As we still had an extra hour to kill before the event started so we visited the Brisbane Lookout at Mt Coot-tha.  This is the view from where I sat.

By the time we arrived at the event I was feeling slightly better, and for a few moments I even thought I would compete. but after taping my ankle and going for a short walk I realised I couldn't possibly run anywhere - apart from not eaten any food or drunk any fluid for almost a day, it was also pretty hot in the sun.  By this time Jon was starting to feel decidedly dodgy himself, so although he managed to run, he did so feeling pretty ill.   

The kids seemed to miss out on the virus completely and both enjoyed good runs - coming 2nd in their classes.   I went for a short walk to the creek crossing and took some photos.

By the time we left the event for the airport I felt ok enough to drive which was good as Jon was now in posession of my emergency empty icecream container and was threatening to use it. Luckily it didn't come to that and our journey home was pretty uneventful. We were also fortunate that mum was able to pick us up in Hobart so we all got home to bed as quickly as possible. 

So it wasn't the ideal way to end our Queensland holiday, but it doesn't take away from the fact that we had a great time. The weather was pretty perfect the whole time, the water was warm and the fun was plentiful.