Uniforms, Heights and Koalas

Tuesday started with a torrential downpour and wondering if that was it for the day, thankfully it stopped as I was due to head to collect my uniform today so didn’t want to have to trek all the way to the UAC (Uniform & Accreditation Centre) in the rain.
The others headed to Brisbane for the day, though Lesley suddenly announced that her wallet of cash was missing, and she thought she may have lost it at the Ceremony last night.
A few phone calls later, the UAC were on alert to look out for it and get in touch if it came in with the lost property, which they did later in the day so luckily as I was heading there I was able to collect for her.
Made a rookie error of waiting for the bus on the wrong side of the road, so as I saw the one I wanted go sailing by, I recalculated my route to head the other way. A longer journey and when coming home also had issued with connections, meant I spent almost 6 hours travelling today. One volunteer took pity on me as we got chatting at the bus stop, so offered me a lift to the entrance of UAC at the end of our journey, which save me a little time.
 A straightforward process, check in, have photo taken, collect pass, try on uniform, collect uniform (even managed to use my sign language with one of the volunteers, who was so pleased to be able to sign), then found lost property collected Lesley’s wallet and headed back home.
The others got back around 9.30pm with tales of their day in Brisbane. Somewhere I shall be heading once the games are over.

Wednesday 

Ruth & Gloria both had shifts today so that left Lesley, Kirsty & Myself to do stuff. Lesley needed to collect some tickets from Sue at Surfer’s Paradise, so we all decided to head off there and then maybe go to the Q1 tower after for either a drink or some lunch.
Ticket’s collected, the Q1 called, and as we had accreditation we were allowed to go up the tower for free, and there was an offer of $15 for a £20 food voucher we could use, which we decided we would.
A very quick elevator took us up to the 77^th floor (I think), where we were able to wander around an observation desk and check out all the views.
We then headed to the café and had some lunch, mine so well planned that it came to exactly $20.

After we got back down we headed for the beach, where they were setting up for some event which we later found was part of the Queens Baton relay where it would come in by sea and then head to the opening ceremony at the stadium.
It took a while to find a bus back to the house due to volume of traffic trying to get to the Stadium for the Opening Ceremony, but we made it, then Ruth & Lesley headed off to watch it live, while Gloria, Kirsty & I settled in to watch on the TV.

 Let the games begin.

Thursday
Today Ruth, Lesley & I were heading off for a Koala cuddle experience. One of Ruth’s volunteer colleagues said she’d like to come with us and offered to give us a lift there and back, which was great. We dropped Gloria off for her shift on the way, and then set off to Currumbin, a typical wildlife park that just happened to be close and where we had booked our Koala cuddle experience.
Saw loads of animals, including a Tasmanian devil, parrots, wallabies and of course koalas, so soft and fluffy, and our experience took us into one of the small enclosures to get up close and personal and then to have a cuddle and a photo. They are just soooo cute.
Once we got back, we decided to head out to try the local “Tavern” where we had a pretty good meal before heading back to settle in for the night.

Friday 

Last free day before shifts, we headed to the Broadbeach superstore this time on the right bus, so it took a lot less time to get there.
Bought a few Borobi cuddly mascots and some other small bits, but as usual the things are not cheap. We then headed to a small bar called MooMoo for a light lunch. Quite fitting as in London 2012 there was a pub called the Cow that used to be popular.

From there we headed to see the beach and where the Festival 2018 is taking place, then caught a bus along to Main Beach and slightly beyond as Lesley wanted to see if she could find the hotel used by the celebs in “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” which we did, had a quick look around, and headed back to Broadbeach.
Did a bit of shopping at the Pacific Fair shopping mall (huge place) and left Kirsty & Gloria shopping while Lesley and I headed back.
Managed to eventually sort out a video call with my mum after getting very frustrated with the technology.  Back home my sister and her hubby are going to be staying at my place for a week, so hoping they can help sort some issues there and we can maybe have another call in a few days.